College kids too `cool' for bilingual dictionaries

　僕は英辞郎を使って英語を読みまくり、インターネットラジオのNHKのラジオジャパン英語ニュースで時事英語を聞きまくってます。（＾＾；
参考「こんな感じで英辞郎を使ってます」

College kids too `cool' for bilingual dictionaries

05/10/2005

The holiday-studded Golden Week is over, and university campuses came back to life Monday. Classes that began last month will soon go into full swing.

2005年05月09日（月曜日）付
【天声人語】

　ゴールデンウイークが終わって、きょうから大学のキャンパスも活気を取り戻す。講義もそろそろ本格化する頃である。

In the past, taking a course in a second foreign language, such as French or German, made one feel like a full-fledged university student intellectually reaching out for something beyond English, which was the only foreign language required in high school. But times are changing. In fact, some universities are doing away with the second language requirement.

　かつては、英語以外にフランス語やドイツ語を学ぶことは、知的な背伸びをしているようで、大学生になったという実感を持ったものだった。最近は、第二外国語を必修から外す所も出てきて、語学学習の風景もだいぶ変わった。

An acquaintance who teaches Spanish at a private university in Tokyo told me that each year he notices more and more students don't own a dictionary. He recommends several dictionaries at the start of the course, but when he asked his class during the third lesson this year how many had followed his advice, only three among the 30 students answered that they had purchased a dictionary.

It used to be common sense for anyone studying a foreign language to purchase at least one dictionary. For today's students, the main reasons cited for not getting a dictionary are said to be: ``too expensive,'' ``too heavy (to carry around)'' and ``too much of a bother to look words up.''

　都内の私大で第二外国語のスペイン語を教えている知り合いによると、年々辞書を持たない学生が増えているという。毎年、最初の授業で何冊かの辞書を推薦するのだが、今年３回目の授業で尋ねたところ、クラス３０人のうち購入したのは３人だった。かなり前なら、外国語を学ぶのに辞書を買うのは常識だった。いまの学生が辞書を買わない理由は「高い」「重い」「引くのが面倒くさい」の三つだという。

A veteran instructor at another private university recounted an episode that took place 10 years ago. When he permitted his students to bring dictionaries to a French-to-Japanese translation test he was giving, one student brought not only a French-Japanese dictionary, but also a Japanese dictionary. The student explained he needed the latter to make sure his Japanese translations were perfect. This kind of episode is history.

　別の私大のベテラン教員は、一昔前のこんな話を教えてくれた。辞書の持ち込み可でフランス語を訳す試験を行ったところ、ある学生は仏和辞典だけでなく、国語辞典も持ち込んだ。訳文に正確さを期するためだった。これまた失われた風景だという。

The foreign-languages section of any bookstore today is crammed with copies of flimsy books bearing titles that promise no-sweat mastery of languages in a matter of days. Not surprisingly, these crash-course books skip grammar. But they are snapped up by students who don't buy dictionaries.

　いま書店の外国語コーナーをのぞくと、「超やさしい○○語の入門」「１０日でマスター」といったようなタイトルの薄っぺらい本であふれている。詳しい文法は省略だ。辞書を買わない学生もこういう本は購入する。

Perhaps it is not ``cool'' today to even attempt to read a foreign language book with the aid of a dictionary. But patient effort is basic to becoming proficient in a foreign language, and this will never change.

　辞書を片手に難解な原書に挑戦するなんてことは今時、はやらないかもしれない。だが、外国語は地道な努力が習得の基本である。それはいつの時代も変わらない。

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 9(IHT/Asahi: May 10,2005)