実践ビジネス英語 ディクテーション (6/29,30)

こんにちは。NHKラジオ「実践ビジネス英語」”Talk the Talk”のディクテーションです。

Lesson 6のテーマは、‘The Tiny House Movement’（「タイニーハウス）という動き）でした。Vignetteでは、アメリカでは小さな家に住むことがトレンドになりつつあるということ、簡素なライフスタイル、片づけ、簡素な結婚式などが話題になりました。平均的なアメリカの家は日本の家の2.5倍あるということなので、そもそもモノサシが違いますね・・・。

“Talk the Talk”では、限られた空間の有効活用や、日本の住宅が「ウサギ小屋」と呼ばれるようになった由来、Heatherさんの大がかりな片づけ体験などについて話されています。

The Tiny House Movement

（S: 杉田敏先生　H: Heather Howardさん）

S: Our current vignette begins with McMillan asking Ueda for tips how to save space as people in Japan are very skilled in that regard.

H: It is astonishing how many space-saving products are available in Japan, isn’t it?

I think it was the first time my mother came to visit.

She and I went to a large home supplies store together.

That was the first thing she commented on after we’d walked around for a while: “My goodness, look at all these things for saving space!”

Ueda’s statistic that American homes are two and a half times bigger, on average, doesn’t surprise me.

Think of all the things people often buy in bulk: toilet paper, detergents, different types of food.

Most homes in Japan wouldn’t have the space for so much at once.

Mine certainly doesn’t.

S: Yes, as Pat McMillan noted, Japanese houses are very small.

So much so that they were famously described as “rabbit hutches.”

That was an oft-used self-deprecating way to refer to the housing situation in Japan in the late 1970s and in the 80s.

The phrase is said to have originated from a leaked confidential memo by the European Commission, which referred to Japanese people as “workaholics living in rabbit hutches.”

To say the least, we are so squeezed for space, we know the value of it.

H: If that’s true about the European Commission, I can understand why that term was originally used in a confidential document, and not in some public forum.

It’s always made me a bit uncomfortable, personally.

Whoever wrote that didn’t directly say that Japanese people were rabbits or some other kind of animal, but it was a little close for comfort for me.

S: When I was returning to Japan after studying and working in the United States for number of years, I wanted to buy some American furniture for use back home.

Knowing that apartments in Japan are much smaller than in the US, I thought I was very careful in selecting the items for shipment to Japan.

However, life in America had clouded my judgment, and a rocking chair, side tables and other items were much too big for my new apartment in Tokyo.

Ultimately I had to give them away to my relatives living in the countryside.

H: Oh, that’s too bad.

S: The A&A staff also talk about the benefits of decluttering, of having minimalist attitude toward life.

H: I am a firm advocate of declutterrng.

We all have busy schedules but I really think the yearly big clean, around new years in Japan and in spring in the United States, is a very important habit to observe.

Some years back, our apartment had gotten very cluttered.

And my husband and I went all out getting rid of things.

We ended up tossing out nearly fifty bags of things we weren’t using anymore.

That number still shocks me―fifty!

But after we did, the entire place felt lighter and I did too.

It may be my imagination but it felt like there was a great surge of energy throughout the apartment.

S: Do you try not to buy too many things?

H: I try to ask myself, “Do I really need this thing I’m about to buy or do I just want it at the moment?”

One thing I buy a lot less of than I used to is DVDs.

I would watch the ones I bought for a little while but then eventually leave them on the shelf untouched for ages.

It’s much better to just rent films when I want them.

Though, that’s nothing compared to some people’s approach.

I’ve even read about people who try to limit all their possessions to no more than one hundred things including clothes.

I would never be able to manage that especially if I had to count all my books.

お疲れさまでした。お読みくださり、ありがとうございます♪