Question She has created many kinds of tools for disabled people to use easily.
- Thread starter hirashin
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- 27 Dec 2003
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Both sentences can be used.
- 8 Apr 2004
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- #8
Thank you for the help, Buntaro san.
How about these? Do they also sound like "Japanglish"?
(c) I find it important to develop a lot of things for disabled people to use easily.
(d) I'd like to improve society by creating a lot of things for anyone to use easily and comfortably.
(e) I'd like to design houses comfortable for people in wheelchairs to live in.
How about these? Do they also sound like "Japanglish"?
(c) I find it important to develop a lot of things for disabled people to use easily.
(d) I'd like to improve society by creating a lot of things for anyone to use easily and comfortably.
(e) I'd like to design houses comfortable for people in wheelchairs to live in.
- 27 Dec 2003
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Yes, they do.
We usually use the relative pronoun (関係代名詞) "that", so this is what sounds the most natural. It is the use of the word "for" in your examples that makes them sound "Japanglish". Here are the most-natural-sounding examples:
I find it important to develop a lot of things (that) disabled people can use easily.*
I'd like to improve society by creating a lot of things that are easy and comfortable for anyone to use.
I'd like to design houses that are comfortable for people in wheelchairs to live in.
* The word "that" in this sentence is optional.
- 8 Apr 2004
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- Thread starter
- #10
Thank you for the further help, Buntaro.
What do you think of this? It's from our textbook. Is it in good English?
Ms. Matsumori was born in Tokyo in 1975. She lost her hearing in her mid teens.
She lost all hope in life at that time, but she found her courage again and entered a university
for students who have difficulty hearing. There, she encountered the idea of universal design.
Also, she learned how positive proposals can improve society. She decided to make universal design her life's work.
Since graduation, she has spread her ideas by giving lectures and writing books. She has always believed that knowing a world with sound as well as one without it was one of her strengths. She has helped to develop some interesting and convenient items. One of them is a cellphone strap which tells its owner of the arrival of an email by sending out
a fragrance. Another is a fire alarm that also uses people's sense of smell—the "Wasabi Fire Alarm."
This unique invention received the Ig Nobel Prize in 2011. Ms. Matsumori thinks it important to spread the idea of universal design. "Universal design means creating a society comfortable for different people to live in," she wrote in a book.
What do you think of this? It's from our textbook. Is it in good English?
Ms. Matsumori was born in Tokyo in 1975. She lost her hearing in her mid teens.
She lost all hope in life at that time, but she found her courage again and entered a university
for students who have difficulty hearing. There, she encountered the idea of universal design.
Also, she learned how positive proposals can improve society. She decided to make universal design her life's work.
Since graduation, she has spread her ideas by giving lectures and writing books. She has always believed that knowing a world with sound as well as one without it was one of her strengths. She has helped to develop some interesting and convenient items. One of them is a cellphone strap which tells its owner of the arrival of an email by sending out
a fragrance. Another is a fire alarm that also uses people's sense of smell—the "Wasabi Fire Alarm."
This unique invention received the Ig Nobel Prize in 2011. Ms. Matsumori thinks it important to spread the idea of universal design. "Universal design means creating a society comfortable for different people to live in," she wrote in a book.
- 27 Dec 2003
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All in all, it is very good English. But there are a couple of mistakes. The mistake that really jumps out at me is the bad paragraph-formatting. Japanese people are known for making paragraph-formatting mistakes. (By the way, Chinese students are known for this too.) In the first "paragraph", we the mistake of making every sentence a new paragraph, which is a mistake often seen in Japan.
Here are the properly formatted paragraphs:
---->Ms. Matsumori was born in Tokyo in 1975. She lost her hearing in her mid teens. She lost all hope in life at that time, but she found her courage again and entered a university for students who have difficulty hearing. There, she encountered the idea of universal design. Also, she learned how positive proposals can improve society. She decided to make universal design her life's work.
---->Since graduation, she has spread her ideas by giving lectures and writing books. She has always believed that knowing a world with sound as well as one without it was one of her strengths. She has helped to develop some interesting and convenient items. One of them is a cellphone strap which tells its owner of the arrival of an email by sending out a fragrance. Another is a fire alarm that also uses people's sense of smell—the "Wasabi Fire Alarm."
---->This unique invention received the Ig Nobel Prize in 2011. Ms. Matsumori thinks it important to spread the idea of universal design. "Universal design means creating a society comfortable for different people to live in," she wrote in a book.
~~~~~
I have highlighted two items in red. First is the word "was". It should be "is" (unless she has subsequently lost this skill).
There is also the term "Ig Nobel Prize". Technically, this is not a mistake, but it lends itself to confusion. I would have added an asterisk as well as a footnote, as in the following example:
---->Ms. Matsumori was born in Tokyo in 1975. She lost her hearing in her mid teens. She lost all hope in life at that time, but she found her courage again and entered a university for students who have difficulty hearing. There, she encountered the idea of universal design. Also, she learned how positive proposals can improve society. She decided to make universal design her life's work.
---->Since graduation, she has spread her ideas by giving lectures and writing books. She has always believed that knowing a world with sound as well as one without it is one of her strengths. She has helped to develop some interesting and convenient items. One of them is a cellphone strap which tells its owner of the arrival of an email by sending out a fragrance. Another is a fire alarm that also uses people's sense of smell—the "Wasabi Fire Alarm."
---->This unique invention received the Ig Nobel Prize* in 2011. Ms. Matsumori thinks it important to spread the idea of universal design. "Universal design means creating a society comfortable for different people to live in," she wrote in a book.
* Not to be confused with the Swedish and Norwegian Nobel Prize. The Ig Nobel ("ignoble") Prize is a parody of the Nobel Prize.
Here are the properly formatted paragraphs:
---->Ms. Matsumori was born in Tokyo in 1975. She lost her hearing in her mid teens. She lost all hope in life at that time, but she found her courage again and entered a university for students who have difficulty hearing. There, she encountered the idea of universal design. Also, she learned how positive proposals can improve society. She decided to make universal design her life's work.
---->Since graduation, she has spread her ideas by giving lectures and writing books. She has always believed that knowing a world with sound as well as one without it was one of her strengths. She has helped to develop some interesting and convenient items. One of them is a cellphone strap which tells its owner of the arrival of an email by sending out a fragrance. Another is a fire alarm that also uses people's sense of smell—the "Wasabi Fire Alarm."
---->This unique invention received the Ig Nobel Prize in 2011. Ms. Matsumori thinks it important to spread the idea of universal design. "Universal design means creating a society comfortable for different people to live in," she wrote in a book.
~~~~~
I have highlighted two items in red. First is the word "was". It should be "is" (unless she has subsequently lost this skill).
There is also the term "Ig Nobel Prize". Technically, this is not a mistake, but it lends itself to confusion. I would have added an asterisk as well as a footnote, as in the following example:
---->Ms. Matsumori was born in Tokyo in 1975. She lost her hearing in her mid teens. She lost all hope in life at that time, but she found her courage again and entered a university for students who have difficulty hearing. There, she encountered the idea of universal design. Also, she learned how positive proposals can improve society. She decided to make universal design her life's work.
---->Since graduation, she has spread her ideas by giving lectures and writing books. She has always believed that knowing a world with sound as well as one without it is one of her strengths. She has helped to develop some interesting and convenient items. One of them is a cellphone strap which tells its owner of the arrival of an email by sending out a fragrance. Another is a fire alarm that also uses people's sense of smell—the "Wasabi Fire Alarm."
---->This unique invention received the Ig Nobel Prize* in 2011. Ms. Matsumori thinks it important to spread the idea of universal design. "Universal design means creating a society comfortable for different people to live in," she wrote in a book.
* Not to be confused with the Swedish and Norwegian Nobel Prize. The Ig Nobel ("ignoble") Prize is a parody of the Nobel Prize.
Last edited:
- 27 Dec 2003
- 2,855
- 2,105
Fascinating! (I would say the award is fairly unknown in the US.)
