2005/03/21
Basic English Writers' Japanese-English Wordbook
One great reason of this trouble is our jisho: wordbooks. Let me give you an example from my teaching experience. I have some Japanese friends who have the power of writing good English. When they do their writing without looking at wordbooks and using simple words only, they give out good writings. When they have, however, a Japanese-English wordbooks by themselves, and they make use of them, then their English [writings] quickly go strange.
Most of Japanese-English wordbooks in print were in fact made by the Japanese. Though they are expert university teachers, they made those books with almost no help from mother-tongue users. Most of the examples in the books are not truly examples used in international talks and writings, because getting true examples from outside of Japan takes away too much money and time and it is not a good business for the book company.
So what is a good Japanese-English wordbook made by someone whose first language was English, helped by a group of Japanese?
Frank James Daniels, an Englishman whose birth was in 1899, came to Japan in 1928. Basic English was made public by Ogden in 1930, and Daniels sent a letter of request for Ogden's approval that he would make a Japanese-English wordbook which had all of the examples in Basic. He got married with a Japanese woman, went back to England in 1932, did some work with Ogden, gave teachings on Japanese at University of London, and had a talk with I. A. Richards.
Daniels came back to Japan in 1933 to be a teacher at Otaru College of Commerce. After teaching there for three years, he kept on making the wordbook for three years. And then, because he was in need of money, he became a teacher at Shizuoka Higher School. He went away from Japan in 1941 because of the War, and did some work with Richards at Harvard University. At that time 85% of the wordbook was made, but it took ten years more to make the book complete.
When Japan and Britain were at war, Daniels was a head teacher of Japanese language in the British armed forces. He kept on training Japanese language teachers after the War, and became an expert teacher at University of London in 1961. His wordbook in the complete form came out in 1969 as 『英文を書くための辞書』[Eibun o Kaku Tame no Jisho] or Basic English Writers' Japanese-English Wordbook. His death was in London, 1983.
History of Daniels and the book was taken from dust cover of the book and put into Basic by Ryota.
My friend Mr. Ohyama has put his note on the book in his online notebook.
| Writing English, for most of the Japanese who have been learning English for years in colleges or univeristies, is an uncertain business. Most of them have doubts that their English is all right. If one is dependent on a friend whose mother tongue is English, the friend frequently has a hard time making out what is in the writing.
One great reason of this trouble is our jisho: wordbooks. Let me give you an example from my teaching experience. I have some Japanese friends who have the power of writing good English. When they do their writing without looking at wordbooks and using simple words only, they give out good writings. When they have, however, a Japanese-English wordbooks by themselves, and they make use of them, then their English [writings] quickly go strange.
Most of Japanese-English wordbooks in print were in fact made by the Japanese. Though they are expert university teachers, they made those books with almost no help from mother-tongue users. Most of the examples in the books are not truly examples used in international talks and writings, because getting true examples from outside of Japan takes away too much money and time and it is not a good business for the book company.
So what is a good Japanese-English wordbook made by someone whose first language was English, helped by a group of Japanese?
Frank James Daniels, an Englishman whose birth was in 1899, came to Japan in 1928. Basic English was made public by Ogden in 1930, and Daniels sent a letter of request for Ogden's approval that he would make a Japanese-English wordbook which had all of the examples in Basic. He got married with a Japanese woman, went back to England in 1932, did some work with Ogden, gave teachings on Japanese at University of London, and had a talk with I. A. Richards.Daniels came back to Japan in 1933 to be a teacher at Otaru College of Commerce. After teaching there for three years, he kept on making the wordbook for three years. And then, because he was in need of money, he became a teacher at Shizuoka Higher School. He went away from Japan in 1941 because of the War, and did some work with Richards at Harvard University. At that time 85% of the wordbook was made, but it took ten years more to make the book complete.
When Japan and Britain were at war, Daniels was a head teacher of Japanese language in the British armed forces. He kept on training Japanese language teachers after the War, and became an expert teacher at University of London in 1961. His wordbook in the complete form came out in 1969 as 『英文を書くための辞書』[Eibun o Kaku Tame no Jisho] or Basic English Writers' Japanese-English Wordbook. His death was in London, 1983.
History of Daniels and the book was taken from dust cover of the book and put into Basic by Ryota.
My friend Mr. Ohyama has put his note on the book in his online notebook.
This book is still in print by Hokuseido Press, Tokyo. The picture of the box is from the <www.amazon.co.jp>.
