Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Do you do your best?

Today, a man retired from work upon reaching retirement age.
He had been my superior around fifteen years ago.
He had worked very hard. And he loved drinking.
In fact, he often had taken me drinking.
I still remember a word given by him.

One day, when we drank, he asked me.
"Hey AEZ! Are you doing the best on your work?"

I answered him.
"Yes, I do my best!"

Then, he said like this.
"No... During "I do my best." you say, you haven't done your best yet."
"You can do it more."

It is very impatient that I can't express his intention well in English.
Anyway, when I heard that word, I felt his spirit against all things.

Now, I want to say him.
"Thank you for your guidance, and enjoy your life from now."


「がんばってますか?」

今日、ある人が定年退職した。
15年ほど前に、僕の上司だった人だ。
よく働いて。よく飲む人だった。
実際、僕もよく飲みに連れていってもらった。
その人から言われたことを、今でも覚えてる。

ある日、飲んでたとき、彼が聞いてきた。
「おい、AEZ。仕事がんばってるか?」

僕は答えた。
「はい。がんばってます!」

すると、彼はこう言った。
「いいや。『がんばってます』って言えるのは、まだがんばってないのと同じだ」
「お前はもっとやれるはずだ」

英語では、彼の言いたいことをうまく表現できないことが、すごくもどかしい。
とにかく、その言葉を聞いたとき、彼のスピリットを感じた。

今、彼に言いたいことがある。
「御指導、ありがとうございました。これからは自身の人生を楽しんでください」



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11 comments:

mrmarkmottershead said...

Sounds very wise.
Drinking can do that to a man haha.
There is always a way to improve ones-self.
Good blog by the way, its very refreshing.

Peevish said...

I am not sure what "I felt his spirit against all things" means. You seem to like and admire your former boss, so I don't think you mean he is a negative person (against all things). Maybe you could clarify this for me.

Kevin Reiner said...

we can rarely found this kind of person (do the best) here, seems everyone's ASAP here (as slow as possible) :D

Charmskool said...

Good advice!

gb said...

In your second sentence do you mean he was your superior fifteen years ago, but you have had other bosses since then; or do you mean he was your superior for the last fifteen years; or do you mean he was your superior for fifteen years and then you got a different boss?

If the first: it would be better to say 'He was my superior about fifteen years ago.' The 'he had been' passive construction doesn't work well in English.

If the second: 'He has been my superior for the last fifteen years,' would be more natural.

If the third: 'He was my superior for about fifteen years,' or 'He had been my superior for about fifteen years,' would be better.

Keep up the good work. You're getting there!

Mohammad said...

the line before last:
Now, I want to say him
correct form:
1-Now, I want to say to him
or
2-Now, I want to tell him
keep up good work man.

gaijinhodge said...

That translation was very difficult. The word "Ganbaru" itself has no one word pairing in English (like shibui or natsukashii).

I would recommend, as others have already done, saying "I felt his spirit reach out to me" simply because "against" feels like に対する or something like that.

よく頑張った!うふふ。
http://kakkoiiblog.blogspot.com/

ChiChi81 said...

interesting blog :) it's very amazing how you translate your blog from japanese to english. you work really hard, and for that I commend you. Good luck and keep up the good work ^^

AEZ said...

I'm given power from your comments.
Thank you a lot.

G Saimukundhan said...

Just glad that I stumbled across this blog. Did you say you wanted to improve your English? Language is to communicate. And you communicate things better. It may not be poetic, but it is honest.

Loved reading your first post.

Will read the rest of them as well.

CHeers

G Saimukundhan

beldeti said...

Hello AEZ,

I must say, it's a very good thing you're doing, making a blog to practice your english.

You learn faster when you're doing it often, like updating your blog.

The comments have been very supportive too, and I'm learning good writing tips too.

Keep up the good work!