航自？空上自衛隊？は存在しない。

先日、領事館職員Ａさんと盛り上がった話題は、「航空自衛隊」を訳する時に気をつけないといけない点でした。(^o^)

Ａさんはこの間、３つの自衛隊の略語を書く際、「陸自・海自」と同じ法則で、「空自」ではなく誤って「航自」と略してしまったらしい。当然、当事者の空自の方たちから総ツッコミされたそうで、恥ずかしい思いをしたみたい。ご愁傷様です。(^^;

教訓その１：たしかに、彼女が間違えてもおかしくないですよね。だって「陸上自衛隊＝陸自」、「海上自衛隊＝海自」と、一番目と三番目の漢字を略した法則だと、「航空自衛隊＝航自」になっちゃいますもんね。でも残念ながら、正解は法則にそらない「空自」なので、翻訳・通訳する時に間違えないように気をつけねばならないですね。ちょっとややこしいけど。私は間違えないよう、略する時は常に「陸・海・空」を思い出しながら略語書いてます。それか、英語の略語「JGSDF、JMSDF、JASDF」で楽する！(>_<)b

彼女が恥ずかしい経験を打ち明けてくれたので、お返しに私の昔の上司が失敗した例を話してあげた。その昔の上司、３つの自衛隊を訳していた時に「陸上自衛隊、海上自衛隊、そして空上自衛隊…」と言ってしまったんです。それを聞いて「え？空の上は宇宙じゃん？」と頭の中でツッコンでしまったワタシ。もっと痛かったのは、その上司が自分がミスったことに気づかなかったことですが、それはさておき… (^^;

教訓その２：いちいち言わなくて良いと思いますが、正解は「空上自衛隊」ではなく、「航空自衛隊」ですよね。この場合、無意識に「●上自衛隊」の誤った法則に従ってしまい「陸上、海上、空上」って上司が言っちゃいました。フルバージョンに関しては特に法則はないから、私も間違えないよう、部隊の古い順から言う流れに反しますが、先に「航空自衛隊」って言って「陸上自衛隊、海上自衛隊」を後に言います。特に通訳する時間がなくなったり、自分が急いでる時は慌てて「空上」と言う可能性が上がるので、あえて最初に言うようにしてます。(^_^)

ほんと、３つの自衛隊の中で、「航空自衛隊」は慎重に訳しなければいけませんね。集中、集中！(-_-;

Ko-ji? Ku-jo-ji-ei-tai? aren't real terms for JASDF.
The other day, my consulate friend A-san and I had a lively conversation on the pitfalls of mistranslating the term "Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF)." (^o^)

A-san said when she tried to abbreviate the three Self-Defense Forces in Japanese, she followed the same pattern for Riku-ji (JGSDF) & Kai-ji (JMSDF) but mistranslated Ko-ji (JASDF). Of course, the JASDF folks whom she wrote to all pointed out her mistake over laughs, making her feel quite embarrassed. Harsh. (^^;

Lesson learned 1: This mistake is easily understandable. The pattern she followed was "Riku-jo-ji-ei-tai=Riku-jo", "Kai-jo-ji-ei-tai=Kai-ji", which took the first and third kanji characters, so you could easily assume "Ko-ku-ji-ei-tai=Ko-ji." Unfortunately, the correct Japanese abbreviation is "Ku-ji," so the translator needs to be careful. It's a bit cumbersome to remember this exception, though. The way I try to avoid this mistake is to always think "Riku-Kai-Kuu" (Ground-Maritime-Air) when I abbreviate those terms. That, or go the easy route and abbreviate in English "JGSDF-JMSDF-JASDF"! (>_<)b

Since she shared one of her embarrassing experiences, I shared an embarrassing story of a mistranslation by one of my former bosses. When the old boss tried to translate the three Self-Defense Forces, she said, "Riku-jo-ji-ei-tai, Kai-jo-ji-ei-tai, and Ku-jo-ji-ei-tai." When I heard that, I thought, "Wait? Ku-jo, as in 'over-the sky', which means space?" The sadder part of that was, the boss didn't realize her mistake, but we'll put that aside... (^^;

Lesson learned 2: As you probably already know, the correct answer isn't "Ku-jo-ji-ei-tai" (Over-the sky SDF) but rather "Ko-ku-ji-ei-tai" (Air SDF). In this case, the boss inadvertently followed the pattern of "XX-jo-ji-ei-tai" (XX Self-Defense Force) and said, "Riku-jo-ji-ei-tai, Kai-jo-ji-ei-tai, and Ku-jo-ji-ei-tai." There aren't any particular patterns to follow when spelling out the three Self-Defense Forces, so a way to avoid mistranslating it, although it goes against the rule of saying the units from oldest to youngest, I say, "Ko-ku-ji-ei-tai" first, then say, "Riku-jo-ji-ei-tai, Kai-jo-ji-ei-tai" last. You have a tendency to get hasty when there isn't much time to translate or feel rushed, making the chances of saying the incorrect "Ku-jo" a lot higher, so I try to say JASDF first to avoid this mistake. (^_^)

Of the three Self-Defense Forces, "Ko-ku-ji-ei-tai" (JASDF) needs to be translated most carefully. Gotta concentrate! (-_-;