著者

近田 一郎

雑誌

東京女子大学紀要論集

巻号頁・発行日

vol.37, no.1, pp.97-109, 1986-09-15

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When the same idea is expressed in both Japanese and English, the number of verbs used in the Japanese expression will be, in most cases, far greater than the number used in the English expression. It was nearly a quarter of a century ago that I first made this observation, and since then it has been my firm conviction that the over-use of verbs by Japanese speakers when they try to create English sentences is one of the major causes of "un-English English". This is especially true in written English. Over twenty years ago, I had a number of very pleasurable conversations on this topic with the late Professor Yuichi Mito, the indefatigable investigator of problems with verbs. He is responsible for giving me many valuable insights into this thorny topic. On the basis of these discussions, I was able to better define my views, which I was later to present in a treatise, in several magazine articles, and at various places in my two books. In spite of my long-standing interest in these matters, I have not had the opportunity to give them further consideration for a number of years. However, in light of the interest which is currently being generated on the Mure campus by our plans for 'comparative language studies', I feel it may be worthwhile for me here to reiterate my well-worn opinions about the comparison of Japanese and English verbs. I have, therefore, rearranged my previous views, added a sprinkling of more recent thoughts, and attempted to put all this into a more readable form. I shall be happy if this feeble effort proves of some interest to my fellow language teachers.