先日[せんじつ]、産経[さんけい]ニュースで面白[おもしろ]い記事[きじ] (= article)を読[よ]みました。
I read an interesting article in Sankei News on the Internet the other day.
これは、若者[わかもの] (= young people)ことばについての記事[きじ]です。この記事[きじ]によると(= according to)、最近[さいきん]若者[わかもの]が新[あたら]しい表現[ひょうげん] (= expressions)をいろいろ使[つか]うので、年代[ねんだい] (= age)が違[ちが]う人[ひと]たちがコミュニケーションに困[こま]って(= be in trouble)いるそうです。それで、言語[げんご]学者[がくしゃ] (= linguists)が会社[かいしゃ]に話[はなし]をしに行[い]くことが多[おお]いそうです。
例[たと]えば(= for example)、このポストのタイトル、「このケーキ、やばい」。これは、若者[わかもの]が使[つか]う表現[ひょうげん]です。ケーキがおいしいという意味[いみ]です。でも、もともと「やばい」は危[あぶ]ない、とか、怪[あや]しい、という意味[いみ]なのです。若[わか]い人[ひと]たちはみな、わかり合[あ]えます(= to understand each other)が、もっと年上[としうえ]の人[ひと]たちはわかりません。
私[わたし]は、わかるけど、すごく(= terribly)変[へん]な(= strange)感[かん]じがします。自分[じぶん]では使[つか]いません。ことばって難[むず]しいですね。
This is an article about young people’s language use. According to this article, young people use all sorts of new expressions now and there are some sort of communication obstacles occurred between youngsters and the older people. This is a major problem at many companies; therefore, linguists are often asked to give a talk on this issue at all sorts of workplaces.
For example, I wrote “this cake is dubious” in the subject line today. This is what “kono (= this) keki (= cake) yabai (= dubious)” literally means. But the person says this phrase when s/he believes that the cake is delicious. “Yabai” originally meant (and means now as well) “dubious” or “dangerous”. Young people often use "yabai" in a positive way and all youngsters perfectly understand it. However, the seniors would be puzzled by such use of experessions.
Do you want to know what I think? I would understand this when I would hear it. But it sounds very very strange to me. Languages are interesting!
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