gaijinalways
puzzled gaijin
- 15 Jan 2006
- 681
- 21
I had an interesting moment today in class. I often do a section on Japlish (Japanese English) and include the idea of lunch box. Often students mistakenly translate 'bento' as lunch box, instead of a boxed meal (could be dinner or lunch in some cases) or in some cases, a prepared meal in a bag.
But I was surprised to hear a student defending buying something at the convenience store, in her example onigiri, and describing it a a bento. I have never heard a Japanese person use the word 'bento' this way, so I wonder is this usage common?
The student claimed it was in the electronic dictionary (which I often ask them not to use in class as they tend toward bad translation habits rather than trying to work out the meaning of a word from the context), but I am skeptical after getting some messed up definations out of the same said dictionaries.
But I was surprised to hear a student defending buying something at the convenience store, in her example onigiri, and describing it a a bento. I have never heard a Japanese person use the word 'bento' this way, so I wonder is this usage common?
The student claimed it was in the electronic dictionary (which I often ask them not to use in class as they tend toward bad translation habits rather than trying to work out the meaning of a word from the context), but I am skeptical after getting some messed up definations out of the same said dictionaries.