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English Audio Request

shoko
196 Words / 3 Recordings / 3 Comments
Note to recorder:

Natural speed please.

When I say to my son, "you are so cute", my husband always says to me, "you are such a doting mother."

In our country, Japan, it's been traditionally considered that praising family members is not virtuous. Such a thought has created the words "gusoku" and "gusai", which are condescending appellations describing "my son" and "my wife", respectively.

I don't like such a tradition because I think that we cannot communicate love to each other without verbalizing it. My father did not express his love to me and I did not think he loved me. I don't want my son to have the same kinds of negative feelings as I felt. So I always try to deliver my words, which may give him positive outcomes while my husband's teasing is very annoying.

One of my son's friends has an American father. Every morning, I hear him say to his daughter, "I love you" when leaving for work. Although his daughter looks a little bit embarrassed, I envy them, thinking what a great custom they have.

I don't want to stop saying "I love you" to my son, even if other Japanese, including my husband, tease us.

Recordings

  • Even if Praising Family Members is Not Virtuous in Japan, Yet... ( recorded by danmc15 ), Standard American English

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  • Even if Praising Family Members is Not Virtuous in Japan, Yet... ( recorded by hwp982 ), Midwestern U.S. (Pittsburgh)

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  • Even if Praising Family Members is Not Virtuous in Japan, Yet... ( recorded by Wataru ), アメリカ英語 US Accent

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    Corrected Text
    more↓

    When I say to my son, "you're so cute," my husband always says to me, "you're such a doting mother."

    In our country, Japan, it's traditionally considered unvirtuous to praise family members. This idea has created the words "gusoku" and "gusai", which are condescending appellations describing "my son" and "my wife", respectively.

    I dislike this sort of tradition because I think that we can't communicate love to each other without verbalizing it. My father didn't express his love to me and I never thought that he loved me. I don't want my son to have the same kinds of negative feelings I had. So, I always try to say things that have a positive influence, even though my husband's teasing is annoying

    One of my son's friends has an American father. Every morning, I hear him say to his daughter, "I love you" when leaving for work. Although his daughter looks a little bit embarrassed, I envy them, thinking what a great custom they have.

    I don't want to stop saying "I love you" to my son, even if other Japanese, including my husband, tease us.

Comments

shoko
April 1, 2011

Thank you for your recording, Herman!

Wataru
Dec. 28, 2013

Your English is grammatical and easy to understand, but I slightly changed the script to make it feel more natural for me. This was a fascinating story, Shoko.

shoko
Dec. 28, 2013

Thank you for your correcting and recording my writing, and your complement, Wataru!
You helped me a lot in other writings of me. I appreciate you!

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