shiera's avatar
shiera

Nov. 27, 2019

0
Topic in lunch

I ate lunch with my colleagues at a cafe today. The topic we talked about was the Japanese expressions used on TV programs including News programs became strange.
On a TV show I was surprised at the other day, the telop expressed a caucasian woman from America who have married a Japanese man for 6 years as a "foreigner".
The Japanese have a bad custom of calling "foreigner" as soon as they see those who don't look like Japanese.
This woman has already got Japanese nationality, so obviously she's not "foreigner". We were wondering why Japanese expressions on TV became depleted. A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what they try to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning". I agreed with her.


ランチの話題

今日は同僚とカフェでランチしました。話題は、最近の日本のテレビ番組はニュースを含めて日本語の使い方がおかしいということでした。
この間、テレビを見てビックリしたのは、白人のアメリカ出身の女性が、日本人の男性に嫁いで6年経つというのにテロップでは「外国人」と紹介されていました。日本人は見た目が日本人でないとすぐ「外国人」と呼ぶ悪しき風習があります。
この女性は日本の国籍を持っているので明らかに「外国人」ではありません。なぜこんなにテレビの日本語が劣化しているのか我々は不思議でなりません。同僚の一人が「この女性をアメリカ系日本人と表現すべきだが、そもそも何でもかんでも日本人と区別しようとすることが間違ってる」と言いました。納得。

Corrections

I ate lunch with my colleagues at a cafe today.

Topic in lunch(the topic you talked about)

Instead of writing "topic in lunch" or "lunch conversation topic" it might be best to title the piece as the topic itself.
For example: "Perpetual Foreigners in Japan" or "Foreigners in Japan"

I ate lunch with my colleagues at a cafe today.

The topic wWe talked about was thehow Japanese expressions used on TV programs, including News programsthe news, have becaome strange.

When you say "We talked about" it already refers to the topic discussed so you do not need to say "the topic".

Next, "was" and "the" are grammatically correct but are not needed and sound a little awkward.

Here's an explanation for "became" changed to "has become":
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/93756/became-vs-has-become

"Present perfect simple --- has become --- is used here because the consequences of past actions are important in the present.

For example - I've lost my phone. (the result is that I cannot call anyone)

I lost my phone yesterday. I was worried. (There is no consequence because I found it later)"

On a TV show I was surprised at the other day, the telop expressed when, on a TV show, a cCaucasian woman fromborn in America who haveand married to a Japanese man for 6 years was labeled as a "foreigner".

This sentence flows better when you start with the subject "I", then refer to the time "other day", and then set the scene on a TV show.

The word "from" definitely works here but "born in" might be less ambiguous.

Instead of saying the "telop expressed" something about the woman it makes more sense to say the woman "was labeled" to show that an action was done to her regardless of who did the action. This structure puts the verb closer to the core meaning of the sentence, "labeled as a 'foreigner'" instead of having the verb far away, "the telop expressed........... as a 'foreigner'".

The Japanese have a bad customhabit of calling "foreigner" as soon as they see thosanyone who don'es not look like Japanese a "foreigner".

The meaning of "custom" makes sense in this sentence, but no one says "bad custom". "Bad habit" is much more common even if "habit" is less accurate than "custom".

We would typically say "call (somebody/someone/pronoun/name) a foreigner" instead of "call foreigner".

This woman has already gotreceived Japanese nationalitycitizenship, so obviously she's not "a foreigner".

Both "gotten" and "received" work here, but received sounds a little more advanced.

You don't need the quotes around the word "foreigner" anymore since you are not quoting anyone.

We were wondering why Japanese expressions on TV became depletedhave deteriorated in quality.

This sentence is a little funny, but "deteriorated in quality" expresses the meaning better than "depleted". "Depleted" typically refers a decrease in quantity while "deteriorated" typically refers a decrease in quality.

A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what they try. Trying to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning".

This sentence feels better when split into two sentences.

I agreed with her.

Feedback

I really enjoyed reading your post. The topic discussed is very meaningful, and you expressed it well. I like your use of complex sentence structures.

Overall, I would focus on your use of what/who/when/how. These can be difficult to use at first, but if you keep working hard you will eventually get used to it.

Thanks for your post!

shiera's avatar
shiera

Dec. 4, 2019

0

Thank you for the kind explanation! I'll review them!

I ate lunch with my colleagues at a cafe today.

A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what they trying to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning".

I agreed with her.

Feedback

Very interesting, and an important topic!

shiera's avatar
shiera

Nov. 30, 2019

0

Thank you for the correction! Recently they frequently use "foreigner" on TV. They lump all of those who don't look Japanese together. Long ago they used "a wife from America(アメリカ出身の奥様)", and didn't use "foreigner" for "tourists from other countries". I think tourist and visitor are more polite expression in Japan.

Topic in lunchLunch conversation topic

It feels a bit empty without specifying what kind of topic you're talking about!

I ate lunch with my colleagues at a cafe today.

The topic we talked about was thehow Japanese expressions used on TV programs including News programsthe news have becaome strange.

The verb "to have" needs to agree in number with the subject, "expressions."

On a TV show I was surprised at the other day, the telop expressed when, on a TV show, a cCaucasian woman from America who haved been married to a Japanese man for 6 years was labeled in the captions as a "foreigner".

It seems that the words "captions" and "subtitles" capture what "telop" is in Japanese. I had to look it up, so thanks for giving me a learning opportunity!

The Japanese have a bad customhabit of calling "foreigner" as soon as they see those who don't look like Japanese "foreigner".

This woman hasd already gotten Japanese nationality, so obviously she's not a "foreigner".

Since you are talking about a time in the past before another time in the past (the lady getting citizenship before the time of the TV show), using "had" instead of "has" is more appropriate. This is the past perfect tense.

We were wondering why Japanese expressions on TV became depletedhave deteriorated in quality.

A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what theyir trying to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning is wrong".

I agreed with her.

Feedback

I was just thinking about something similar but in terms of Korea. Even foreign-looking kids who are born and raised in Korea, or foreigners who work hard to learn Korean and integrate and get citizenship, are never really considered "Korean."

shiera's avatar
shiera

Nov. 28, 2019

0

I learned a lot from your correction. Thank you (^^)
I think Korea and Japan were almost racially homogeneous nations in the long history. We didn't get used to seeing other ethnic people, so we got a bad habit of calling "foreigner". I wish Japan will be a nation where there are many ethnic people and someday children in Japan will have many kinds of races blood(^^)

masemune's avatar
masemune

Nov. 29, 2019

0

A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what theyir trying to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning is wrong".

Just a small error here: it should be they're not their

masemune's avatar
masemune

Nov. 29, 2019

0

I think that day is coming soon. Japan has already opened and relaxed its borders. More foreigners are coming to Japan for work. Maybe within the next 50 years it will be pretty mixed.

shiera's avatar
shiera

Nov. 29, 2019

0

Thank you for the correction! Yeah I think mixed children would be a clue to step forward to the world peace (^^)

Topic in lunch


Topic in lunchLunch conversation topic

It feels a bit empty without specifying what kind of topic you're talking about!

Topic in lunch(the topic you talked about)

Instead of writing "topic in lunch" or "lunch conversation topic" it might be best to title the piece as the topic itself. For example: "Perpetual Foreigners in Japan" or "Foreigners in Japan"

I ate lunch with my colleagues at a cafe today.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

The topic we talked about was the Japanese expressions used on TV programs including News programs became strange.


The topic we talked about was thehow Japanese expressions used on TV programs including News programsthe news have becaome strange.

The verb "to have" needs to agree in number with the subject, "expressions."

The topic wWe talked about was thehow Japanese expressions used on TV programs, including News programsthe news, have becaome strange.

When you say "We talked about" it already refers to the topic discussed so you do not need to say "the topic". Next, "was" and "the" are grammatically correct but are not needed and sound a little awkward. Here's an explanation for "became" changed to "has become": https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/93756/became-vs-has-become "Present perfect simple --- has become --- is used here because the consequences of past actions are important in the present. For example - I've lost my phone. (the result is that I cannot call anyone) I lost my phone yesterday. I was worried. (There is no consequence because I found it later)"

On a TV show I was surprised at the other day, the telop expressed a caucasian woman from America who have married a Japanese man for 6 years as a "foreigner".


On a TV show I was surprised at the other day, the telop expressed when, on a TV show, a cCaucasian woman from America who haved been married to a Japanese man for 6 years was labeled in the captions as a "foreigner".

It seems that the words "captions" and "subtitles" capture what "telop" is in Japanese. I had to look it up, so thanks for giving me a learning opportunity!

On a TV show I was surprised at the other day, the telop expressed when, on a TV show, a cCaucasian woman fromborn in America who haveand married to a Japanese man for 6 years was labeled as a "foreigner".

This sentence flows better when you start with the subject "I", then refer to the time "other day", and then set the scene on a TV show. The word "from" definitely works here but "born in" might be less ambiguous. Instead of saying the "telop expressed" something about the woman it makes more sense to say the woman "was labeled" to show that an action was done to her regardless of who did the action. This structure puts the verb closer to the core meaning of the sentence, "labeled as a 'foreigner'" instead of having the verb far away, "the telop expressed........... as a 'foreigner'".

The Japanese have a bad custom of calling "foreigner" as soon as they see those who don't look like Japanese.


The Japanese have a bad customhabit of calling "foreigner" as soon as they see those who don't look like Japanese "foreigner".

The Japanese have a bad customhabit of calling "foreigner" as soon as they see thosanyone who don'es not look like Japanese a "foreigner".

The meaning of "custom" makes sense in this sentence, but no one says "bad custom". "Bad habit" is much more common even if "habit" is less accurate than "custom". We would typically say "call (somebody/someone/pronoun/name) a foreigner" instead of "call foreigner".

This woman has already got Japanese nationality, so obviously she's not "foreigner".


This woman hasd already gotten Japanese nationality, so obviously she's not a "foreigner".

Since you are talking about a time in the past before another time in the past (the lady getting citizenship before the time of the TV show), using "had" instead of "has" is more appropriate. This is the past perfect tense.

This woman has already gotreceived Japanese nationalitycitizenship, so obviously she's not "a foreigner".

Both "gotten" and "received" work here, but received sounds a little more advanced. You don't need the quotes around the word "foreigner" anymore since you are not quoting anyone.

We were wondering why Japanese expressions on TV became depleted.


We were wondering why Japanese expressions on TV became depletedhave deteriorated in quality.

We were wondering why Japanese expressions on TV became depletedhave deteriorated in quality.

This sentence is a little funny, but "deteriorated in quality" expresses the meaning better than "depleted". "Depleted" typically refers a decrease in quantity while "deteriorated" typically refers a decrease in quality.

A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what they try to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning".


A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what theyir trying to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning is wrong".

A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what they trying to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning".

A colleague said, "This woman should have been introduced as American-Japanese, but what they try. Trying to draw a line between Japanese and non-Japanese about anything is wrong from the beginning".

This sentence feels better when split into two sentences.

I agreed with her.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

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