My Endless Soliloquy【隔離孤立】英文で独り言）

Question 1:

It happens. English is a language with a lot of synonyms and no formal body regulating grammar, so irregular sentence structures can happen. I think what Obama was trying to do
was put himself in the position of the Iraqis for the sake of rhetoric.


2: Of the two options presented I'd choose #1. Here's how I would write it. This isn't necessarily "correct," it's just how I would do it. :

"I think this is a wake-up call for a lot of Iraqis in Baghdad who now recognize that they're going to have to rethink how they do business if they want to hold their country together."

>>86
Gosh, thank you for giving me yet another
kind, exhaustive, and prompt answer.

By the way, could I ask you if you're the same Canadian guy
that talked kindly to me on many occasions yesterday?

If so, I'm sorry if I disappointed you by saying something
along the lines of: "Please don't preach." I know I'm ingrate.
It's just that people sometimes hurt me very much when they
try to tell me what to do and what not to do in order to become happier
even though they mean well and love me.

>>87

Yep that's me. No offense taken.

>>88
Thanks again for the response. Could I ask you something about your life,
like where in Canada you live and what you like and don't like?
If you don't want to, just ignore my question. I don't mean to pry.

>>89
I live in Northern Ontario. I'm currently studying law.

As to what I do and don't like that's a bit of a difficult question, I don't like to work in absolutes. Everything is based on context for me. Still, generally I like talking to people online, learning about other cultures, history,
movies, video games, books, that sort of thing.

>>90
Oh, Northern Ontario, eh? Interesting! I'm browsing the Wikipedia
article about your province (or the northern part of your province,
to be more specific). Here are some of the phrases that attracted
my attention:

(1) The climate is characterized by extremes of temperature, extremely
cold in winter and hot in summer.
(2) The principal industries are mining, forestry, and
hydroelectricity.
(3) In the early 20th century, Northern Ontario was often called
"New Ontario", although this name fell into disuse because of its
colonial connotations.

(4) Population (2011): 732,914 (Only that!? It's a far cry from
any city or region to which I'm used to here in Japan.)
I live in a suburban city in Osaka with a population about half
as large. It's not a prefecture. It's a single city. And it's not
one of the biggest cities. It's one of the biggest all right
in Osaka, but definitely not that when you look all over Japan.
My city, although very big for a suburban city in Osaka,
it's rather quiet as compared to any city in Tokyo or any of
its suburban regions.

I envy you guys who live in a quiet region, not very highly populated.
Although my town is less populated and more favored with nearby mountains,
hills, and rivers than many of the towns in Tokyo and its surroundings,
it is becoming increasingly noisy.

People are incessantly flowing
into my town, with buildings and shops flourishing. Streets and
stations are constantly being rebuilt or refurbished. My town is,
for a non-central town, definitely one of the most economically
successful in Osaka or anywhere else in the Kansai region.

(Maybe someone could identify the city I live in, simply by using
the bits and pieces of information I'm giving away here.
But, hey, I'm not a criminal. I don't have anything to hide from
people anyway. So, what the hell. . . .)

I must thank anyone who might be responsible for all this success.
Thanks to that, there are lots of physicians and nurses stationed nearby and
we find lots of shops, two or more cinema houses, several universities,
fitness clubs, and many other amenities.

However, it's becoming increasingly noisy, with crime rates rising
and people becoming more and more nervous.

>>91

1. The coldest day of the year this winter was -40 celsius with the windchill, the hottest was ~+30 Celsius, hotter with humidity.

2. Mostly mining these days. The city I live in (Sudbury) was hit by a meteor a couple billion years ago so we have lots of
nickel, platinum and copper. Other regions have gold, chromite, diamonds, silver, iron... anything you can think of really.

3. I've never heard anyone call it "New Ontario," except in French when they sometimes call it "Nouvelle Ontario." A lot of people
up here want to be our own province, we don't like the South that much.

4. Yeah, we're pretty sparsely populated. Once you go north of Timmins there's absolutely nothing until you hit the
James Bay Coast where they have some Native Reserves(mostly Cree up in Attawapiskat, Moosonee, Moose Factory, and Kashechewan.) There are no
roads up there, just solid forest, so the only way in or out is by plane.

The drive between Sudbury, where I live, and Thunder Bay, in the far west of Northern Ontario, takes about 11 and a half hours. There is absolutely
nothing between here and there. Just trees and the road.

>>90
So you're studying law. Great! It's one of the two most universally
useful disciplines in the world: law and medicine. With medicine,
you could kill or save people.

With law, people can destroy or
save not only individuals but a whole city or country or even the
whole world. People worship lawyers and physicians.

Physicians can go anywhere in the world to save people's lives
without the knowledge of their local languages.

Lawyers can go anywhere in the world to help people organize
their communities and countries with the help of interpreters.

As for your likes, I think I share my likes about history,
books, and movies with you. I hope I'll get to talk about
those things little by little whenever we get a chance.

>>93
Extremely interesting.

(1) -40 Celsius to +30 Celcius!? Wow! Just surprising! I never
dreamed Canada can be that hot! Here in Osaka, where it's rather hot,
it can be as hot as +37 or so, but in winter, it can't be as cold
as -5 Celsius, if I remember correctly.

Usually, here, we the locals
of Osaka complain an awful lot when it gets as cold as minus 2 degrees
Celsius only. If it gets colder than minus 5 degrees Celsius,
people would emigrate, haha. I really appreciate this mild weather
in winter.

(2) Hmmm, mining, eh? Here in Japan, mining is rare. We're very
poor in minerals. Mineralogy and geology are almost useless
disciplines here in Japan. Amateur mineralogists and geologists
who carry rock hammers, with hats on their heads and knapsacks on
their shoulders, going to hills or even mountains to collect rock
samples are a rarity in Japan. They are definitely called geeks.
Why? Because we don't find lots of mineral here. Nothing is
worthy of interest here when it comes to minerals and strata.
I don't know that much about these things, but it is probably because
Japan is at the point where several "plates" (as they call them in
plate tectonics) converge and everything here is crushed by
the huge forces of these plates coming up all at once.

>>93
(3) The designation "New Ontario" attracted my attention because
it indicates how new, how relatively less developed your region is
as compared to the Southern Ontario. (Here, by calling your part of
the province "relatively less developed," I don't mean to denigrate it.)
It's just that that designation seems to be indicative of the history
of your region. I find it interesting to imagine how your region
-- together with the rest of your country -- has been developing
throughout history.

(4) I guess your city, Sudbury, is not very far from Quebec and
Montreal, which are among the most important cities of Canada.
And I don't think it's terribly far from Prince Edward Island, either.
That island I know by name because, if I remember correctly,
"Anne of Green Gables" and "The Road to Avonlea" are set on that
island. I loved to read "Anne" and to watch the TV series "Avonlea."
I have nothing but a good impression of your country. I've never
heard anything bad about it. I also hear that the crime rate is
very, very low there.

In case anyone is interested, I placed a series of posts in
English elsewhere at the URL indicated below.

(There, I was being unreasonable sometimes, but I think I behaved well
at other times. And I think that, in some of the posts, I expressed
the way I have lived and how it has felt to be me.)

Post Nos. 98 to 110 in the following thread:
http://awabi.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/english/1407082628/98-110

>>81
Elsewhere on 2-channel someone posted excerpts from President Obama's
statements in the context where he made the statement mentioned
at >>81. I don't have enough knowledge or interest in these kind
of issues and I don't have enough energy or time to read all this.
For future reference in case I get interest in it, however, I am
indicating the link to the excerpts from the President's statements.

http://awabi.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/english/1406497444/553-557

To pee, or not to pee, that is the question--Whether 'tis nobler
in the mind to suffer the warmth and ordour of the wet pants. Or,
to shoot it out against a Sea of toilet bowl and flushing end them?
To urinate, to be free--No more urine; and by the empty bladder to
say we end the lower abdominal ache and the thousand natural shocks
that flesh is heir to? 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

>>99
Well, that's a good one! Although I'm not much versed in English poetry,
much less in Shakespeare, I think you selected the right rhyming words
in your parody. I'm really glad I've read -- or rather, browsed --
"Hamlet" in the original just recently. It's because of that that
I can now appreciate your parody much better than I would have done before.

I'm a little bit into Shakespeare these days. As a nonnative speaker of English and
just a layman in English literature, particularly in its classics,
I can do nothing but struggle and inch forward in trying to appreciate
the Bard of Avon.

Although I still don't understand much of his
ancient turns of speech, I think I find his rhythm beautiful.
On YouTube, I find lots of public readings of Shakespeare. I've been
enjoying hearing readings of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet."

Of all the readings of "Hamlet" accessible free of charge on YouTube,
I love the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfDCcJSW7yQ

This reading is by Kenneth Brannagh, Judy Dench, Emma Thompson, and
many other talented actors.

>>100
You can now express your desire to pee, ever so eloquently and elegantly.

I learnt Romeo and Juliet in my English class.
After reading the entire book and seeing the classic play on video,
we were also made to see the modern version with Leonardo DiCaprio in it.

I think there is a modern version of Hamlet, too. But haven't had the chance to see it.

>>101
Thanks for yet another post.

Only about a month ago I saw a modern version of "Hamlet" on YouTube.
The entire film is there free of charge.

Hamlet - David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, Penny Downie. Act 1, Scene 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-NLnsq3P7Y&list=PL8653490E2C680C5C

As for a performance of "Romeo and Juliet," I love the version
made by LibriVox.

Romeo and Juliet Audiobook by William Shakespeare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vqhEgJQrsk

In the above recording, the actor as Romeo and the one as Juliet
are fantastic. They are both talented actors with splendid,
fascinating voices. It is no one but these people who inspired
me to read and listen to the entire "Romeo and Juliet."

「固定ハンドルが占用している」スレですね？

My Endless Soliloquy【隔離孤立】嘲り笑う男）
とスレタイトル変えた方がしゃれてる

>>102
What I do not like about the Japanese interpretation of Hamlet is that
the notion of "no more" is translated as "no more or less" when it should mean "demise," like "My foe is no more"
or "Once a great empire is now, no more."
The entire scene emphasizes so much on the notion of death,
it is only natural to think this "no more" in the same way, never as "no more or less."

>>105
Oh, I see. Decades ago I read a Japanese translation of "Hamlet"
very quickly but I didn't notice there was such a problem there.
For my own reference, let me quote what I found on the web.

★　One Japanese translation
　いったいどうしたらよいのか　問題はそこだ
　　荒れ狂う運命の矢先を
　　心で受けて耐え忍ぶのがよいのか
　　それとも敢然と立ち上がり寄せ来る苦難を跳ね除けて
　　終わらせるべきなのか？　死ぬことは眠ること
　　【それ以上ではない】
http://shakespeare.hix05.com/tragedies1/hamlet06.tobe.html

★　English original
To be, or not to be, that is the question―
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep―
【No more;】
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_be,_or_not_to_be

>>104
I'm afraid I'm not the kind of guy that SNEERS at people.
The word "sneer" is simply not in my dictionary.
Did you think I was that kind of guy?

>>106
As you can see, the sentence is incomplete, so it can be interpreted in a few ways.

The Japanese version does make sense, but like I wrote, this scene emphasizes
so much on the notion of death, and having considered the extensive use of
poetic phrasal by Shakespear, this cannot be just a simple statement.
Or perhaps it is meant to have a double meaning, I am not sure.
Either way, there must be more to it than just "no more or less."

>>108
Hmmm, I see. Interesting. Thanks for the important tip. I'll keep
that one in my mind. By the way, did you study Shakespeare abroad?

>>109
Ah, I'm the same guy from the other thread.
Yes, I was taught Romeo and Juliet in English class,
and took a part in Hamlet during Drama class.

>>107
隔離された人を外からみて嘲り笑う人もいるよということです

>>110
Wow, you took a part of Hamlet! That's great!

>>112
Sorry, so you took A part IN "Hamlet."
I stupidly thought you took THE part of Hamlet.

That reminds me of my college days. In college,
which was very small, almost as small as a junior high,
I belong to the English Speaking Society (ESS).
We met and spoke together in English five times a week.
As part of my activities there, I participated very actively
in English drama.

There, the drama course members practiced
an awful lot and performed on the stage once a year.
In my four-year college years, I practiced for a total
of four plays, each as long as two to three hours,
a hundred pages or so on paperback form.

If you think Shakespeare is antiquated look into Chaucer. Then, if you're brave, look into Old English, although that's basically a different language,
much closer to Dutch or German.

The Wanderer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVyXDYp60BE
Thunor Biad (Thor's Boast): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3hzR939uB8
Beowulf: http://youtu.be/Y13cES7MMd8?t=25s

>>112-113
Lol
No, I was nobody.
Just some random guy at the back,
which the character doesn't even have a name,
looking like doing something.

>>114
Interesting...
I'm already on my way to work
so might take a look at it tonight.

I like Old English and I enjoy watching medieval movies.
I don't like it when they mix up thee/thou/thy/thine together with you/your in a same sentence tho.

>>114
No, I never meant Shakespeare was antiquated in absolute terms.
What I meant was he was more antiquated than the literature of
the 19th and 20th centuries.

Many years ago, I studied a little bit of Chaucer and Old English
all by myself. I even had three Old English dictionaries
and a Middle English dictionary.

I'm afraid I let them go years ago. It's not that I was not
interested in them any more. It's just that I thought myself
unready for all that. First, I have to learn to read
the literature of Shakespeare and authors of later years.

>>115

That's not really what I mean by Old English. I mean Ænglisc, or Anglo-Saxon.

The Lord's Prayer:

" Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum
Si þin nama gehalgod
to becume þin rice
gewurþe ðin willa
on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg
and forgyf us ure gyltas
swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge
ac alys us of yfele soþlice"

It's pretty much unrecognizable now. When the Normans (basically French-speaking Vikings from the mouth of the river-Seine) conquered England in 1066, they
radically changed the language.

>>117
You sound like a serious student of Old English (Anglo-Saxon).
How long have you been studying it, if I may ask?

>>118

Just dabbling, honestly. I'm interested in the Germanic roots of English. It seems sort of weird to think of English as a Germanic language, but it is, at least as far as structure goes.

>>119
Ah, so YOU're interested in comparative linguistics too. Although
quite a layman, and just dabbling, I've always been interested in
comparing the roots of English with those of many other Indo-European
languages. Very roughly speaking, it seems as if modern-day English
is a mixture of French and German, fifty fifty.

>>119
Since you're interested in the Germanic roots of English, I guess
Scots interests you as well. I've recently picked up some poems of
the Scottish poet Robert Burns and read them, looking up every Scots
word in my Scots-English dictionary.

I've also been trying -- although only little by little and occasionally,
not intensively at all -- to learn some basic expressions and words
of the language by reading a coursebook in the language and watching
YouTube videos posted by Scottish people teaching us the basics of the language.

Scots is very, very interesting when you view it in connection with English
and other Germanic languages, especially the Scandinavian ones.

>>120

Yeah, I actually took a linguistics course in my first year of University. Incidentally, it was taught by a Japanese woman.

>>121

I'm Scottish by heritage (my grandfather's from there, I'm the Canadian that was posting in here a few days ago.) so yeah I've read some Robbie Burns. I can read a bit of Scots, it's sort of mutually intelligible with English.

>>122
Oh, so you're Scottish-Canadian. I'm always amazed how many Scottish
people are scattered all over the world, accomplishing great things there.
And you're quite welcome back here. I greatly appreciate your coming back.

>>122
So you can read Scots. Do you understand spoken Scots too?
I've watched a dozen videos of "Rab C. Nesbit" the Scottish sitcom
offered by BBC Scotland.

Rab C. Nesbitt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY08yszk6KA&index=3&list=RD_YJg-HPY1Dc

I'm afraid I understand only a little of what they say in the videos,
but I enjoy them anyway. It's not that I appreciate the contents
themselves, the way the characters live. It's just that I appreciate
these great opportunities to learn spoken Scots, which must be quite a
stranger to most Japanese, while sitting on a computer in my room
in a non-metropolitan town in Japan. It was quite unimaginable
just two decades ago.

>>124

I can understand about 90% of what's being spoken.

>>125
That's great.

These days I've been reading "The Unnamable" by Samuel Beckett.
It's hard to read NOT in that it's written in intelligible text
BUT in that it forces the reader to intensely think of and feel about the
deepest recesses of life -- or rather -- existence.

On YouTube, film performances of many of Samuel Beckett's plays
are available. I've seen most of them. I'm not sure how much
and to what degree I manage to understand his plays. Whether
I understand them well enough or not, or rather, however little of
his plays I I manage to understand, I enjoy him anyway.

The work of Samuel Beckett most accessible to everyone is definitely
"Waiting for Godot." It makes us laugh hard, while forcing us to
think hard of life in general.

"Esperando Godot" (dialog in English with Spanish subtitles, about 110 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuU3RrGj3Lc

I've watched this performance a number of times. Or rather,
I WATCHED it only once but LISTENED to it many times, while walking.
Why while walking? Because I don't have that much time at home
at desk. So I listen to it while walking. I often laugh so hard
at the actors' give and take that I have to stop a while,
holding my stomach while trying to finish my laugh.

高校生です
前スレから
読ませていただきました

受験のため日々速読を強要される僕にとってじっくり考えて読むということは興味深く非常に面白いです

>>128
びっくりしました。僕の独り言を読んでくださるとは、しかも高校生なのに。本当にありがとうございます。

>>129
でもあなたの英文ただしいのかな？

>>129
周りは速読、速読と言って、慣れと場当たり的に訳して、結果として文意が合ってるという読み方です
当然、辞書的ですし文を支配する文型や文型を決定する動詞にも注意を払わない読み方なので慣れを抜けだせません


慣れに寄らないこの精読はその逆を行くので好きです

>>131
へえ、今の若い人たちはそういう教育を受けてるんですね。僕は大昔に教育を受けた人間で、
あのころは徹底した精読ばかりでした。学校ではさんざん精読をやっていたので、僕は、せめて
一人で勉強するときだけは速読や多読をしようと頑張っていました。

>>130
どれくらい正しいか正しくないかが判断できないくらいの力しかないあいだは、教科書や参考書や
洋書だけを読んだ方がいいですね。

>>132
精読をしてきた割には英文が読めてないのは不思議ですね
それに、あなたの英文解説の文章を読んでも、ためになったということが
ないんですよ。精進されたし

このコテハンは似非精読だね。本当には理解できていない。

実証してみない限り信用できません。