Wandering Thoughts

~日々のひとりごと~

突然の招集 Unexpected Request

絶賛決算追込中な水曜日の午後(税理士から申告期限が今週金曜日と言われてる)、行きつけのジャズ喫茶のマスターから「電話下さい!」と一言だけのメールが入った。

えー、なんかあったっけなーと記憶をたどりながら電話すると

「今週の土曜日の日中、数時間体空けられる?」

と招集がかかった。

なんでも奥様のお友達の窯元にオーストラリア人観光客が5名ほど窯元体験に来るらしく、それゆえに通訳が必要だと。

正直言って私は英語が喋れる程度でとても「通訳」なんてたとえ冠だけでも呼べるようなものではない。

一瞬都合をつけて断ろうと思ったけど、気がついたら返事を濁している自分がいた。

 

この間も書いたとおり、私は基本土日はゆっくりしたい派だ。

wonderingthoughts.hatenablog.com

金曜日中に決算のカタをつけなければならないとなれば尚の事土日はゆっくりしたい。

けど。

これも英語力向上のチャンスなのかもしれないなぁとかふと考えてる自分がいて。

更に、これまで自分自身体験すらしたことのない陶芸の英語を、となると付け焼き刃でも勉強が必要になる。

大変な分、その知識や表現はこれからの自分の糧になるかもしれない(例えばビジネスの雑談の場でネタとして披露できるとか)。

いくつか陶芸をネタにしたバラエティ動画を見た記憶もある。

Wikipediaの陶芸に関する記事も読みまくれば勉強になるかも。

やってみようかなぁ。

 

Amid the homestretch with the final reports of accounts (our accountant gave us an ultimatum that the deadline is this Friday), a terse e-mail from the owner of my faverite jazz cafe caught my eye.

It only said, "Call me!" and I pressed the call button while I was tugging the threads of my memory, trying to figure out what the nature of the call could possibly be.

As soon as he came to the phone, he got straight to the point and asked me if I would be free for a couple of hours this upcoming Saturday. 

The thing is, his wife's friend is a potter and is expecting a group of five Australian tourists for a pottery making experience and that he is in a urgent need of an interpreter to provide language assistance. 

To put it in a nutshell, the cafe owner named me as a candidate. 

 

I would like to stress here that my English is not nearly as good as professional interpreters.

In fact,  I WOULD NEVER EVER CALL MYSELF AS AN INTERPRETER. PERIOD. 

For a split second, I thought I was going to turn the offer down for being such a homebody who wants to just unwind and relax on weekends, especially after a long and hard week such as this. 

In the next minute, however, I found myself wondering if it might be fun to actually give it a try. 

I don't even know the first thing about pottery thus it's inevitable that I will have to do a lot of homework beforehand, but that can also provide all the more opportunities to improve and enhance my English skills, by venturing into a new area I have never been exposed to. 

On top of all that, it can also make a good conversation topic in busines situations. 

I remeber seeing some Youtube videos featuring pottery and I could always glean information from Wikipedia as well. 

I am still debating though, it might be fun.

I might.... take up the offer? I don't know.