Learning English from President Bush

May 2, 2010

Published in Mainichi Shimbun
(Japan) on 30 April 2010
by (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Haitham Jendoubi. Edited by Jessica Boesl.

Learning English from former President Bush? Yes, it happened to me. In 1998, two years before Mr. Bush was elected president, he was running for reelection as the governor of Texas. His younger brother was running for governor in a different state and speculation was rife that they might become “brother governors.”

When I asked Mr. Bush — on the campaign trail at the time — “If your brother is elected,” he interrupted me. “No, no. Say when, not if,” he said to this Japanese journalist with a friendly smile.

He was telling me to talk about his brother’s election as being self-evident, rather than merely hypothetical. So that’s the difference between these two words! I never imagined that such a pleasant guy would go on to steamroll through the Iraq War and retire as an unpopular president.

But some observations are less edifying. After a Washington Post column called Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama “loopy,” a word meaning that his words and actions are a bit strange, the Wall Street Journal published an article called “Japan Dissing.” The author, a researcher at an American think-tank, theorizes that Japan has gone from being “bashed,” then “passed” and is now being discarded as an object of contempt. I agree that such a turn of affairs would be undesirable for both the United States and Japan, but I’m sure that talk of “discarding” Japan is overblown.

As usual, both newspapers’ articles are a reflection of the problem of the Futenma air base. Many people, though taken aback by the many criticisms leveled at Japan, believe that “Japan-U.S. relations will improve provided that the Futenma issue is resolved.” I’d like to put it to Mr. Bush whether that’s an “if” or a “when.”

　米国のブッシュ前大統領から英語を教わった？ことがある。ブッシュさんが大統領に当選する２年前（９８年）、テキサス州知事として再選に挑んでいた時だ。実弟は別の州知事選に出馬し「兄弟知事」の可能性が話題を呼んでいた▲そこで遊説中のブッシュさんに「もし弟さんが当選したら」と尋ねると「ノー、ノー」と質問をさえぎる。そして「もし（ｉｆ）じゃなく、『勝った時（ｗｈｅｎ）』と言ってよ」と人なつこい笑顔を遠来の日本人記者に向けた▲弟の当選を仮定でなく自明のように語れという指摘だろう。なるほど二つの単語はそう使い分けるのかと勉強になった。そんな愉快な人が５年後にイラク戦争を強行し、不人気な大統領として退任するとは夢にも思わなかった▲だが、あまり勉強にならない指摘もある。ワシントン・ポストのコラムが鳩山由紀夫首相について、言動が奇妙なことを意味する「ｌｏｏｐｙ」という言葉を使ったのに続き、ウォールストリート・ジャーナルは「ジャパン・ディッシング（ｄｉｓｓｉｎｇ）」なる記事を載せた▲筆者は米シンクタンクの研究者で、日本は「バッシング（たたき）」と「パッシング（素通り）」を経て、軽侮や切り捨ての対象になったと論じる。そんな状況は日米双方に好ましくないという意見には賛成だが、「切り捨て」とは大げさだろう▲二つの米紙の記事は例によって普天間問題の反映だが、数々の対日批判に閉口しつつ「普天間さえ決着したら日米関係は好転する」と信じる人も多いはず。その場合の「たら」は「ｉｆ」か「ｗｈｅｎ」か、ブッシュさんの意見を聞いてみたい。

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .