April 14 資料・語順訳の練習
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Can “Manga” be an International Language?
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On December 26, 2004,/ a tidal wave, / triggered by a massive earthquake/ which occurred near
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Sumatra,/ crashed ashore/ devastating beach resorts/ in Indonesia. The shocking images/ of
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this disaster/ were aired/ all over the world./ While watching the news about it, / I noticed/ that/
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the foreign reporters and the local people/ were using the word “tsunami”/ to describe the disaster./
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Wondering/ whether/ “tsunami” was a foreign word or not,/ I consulted a dictionary/ and found out/
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that/ it was a real Japanese word. /Thinking/ that/ it was probably an international word,/ I
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searched for “tsunami”/ on Google/ to check this possibility. /As a result, /I found/ 42.7 million items/
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on American websites,/ 1.14 million on French websites,/ and 1.18 million on German websites./
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This means/ that/ the word “tsunami” is used/ in America, France, and Germany. /I also searched
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/American, British, French, and German websites /on the Internet/ and found/ that/ “tsunami” is
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more frequently used/ than the word “sushi.”/ “Tsunami” must be/ one of the many Japanese words/
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that/ are used overseas. /It even has/ an adjective form, “tsunamic.”
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Then,/ what about Japanese words/ that represent the culture?/ How frequently/ are they being
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used?/ This time, /I searched on Google/ for words/ that seemed to symbolize/ old and new Japanese
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culture./ The words/ that came to mind/ are: “sushi,” “samurai,” “manga,” “Pokemon,” “otaku,”
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“geisha,” etc./ I found/ that/ the most frequently used/ Japanese cultural word today/ is “manga.”/
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“Sushi” comes next.
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April 14 資料・語順訳の練習
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It appears/ that “manga” is known worldwide/ more than “sushi” is./ Not only that,/ but there are
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more people/ who know the word “manga”/ than those who know the word “Japanimation,” /a coined
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word for “Japanese animation.”/ In fact,/ in any bookstore, /Japanese “manga” is clearly separated/
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from “Comics and Cartoons.”/ It always has a section of its own. / In relation to “manga,” / I had
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been thinking/ that/ the word “otaku”/— a word for an animation maniac /— was used/ only in
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Japan and probably in America too./ However,/ I have found/ that/ it is gradually spreading/ in
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Germany/ but with a different connotation./ Quite the reverse/ from its negative implication in
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Japan,/ the word has a more positive meaning,/ such as “master of manga and animation.”/
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Someone told me/ that he had seen a T-shirt/ with the word “Otaku” printed on it/ in big letters./
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Manga magazines use “Hello, Otaku!”/ to call their readers./ Both “manga” and “otaku”/ are
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beginning to be recognized/ as international words.