Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro
Hi.
Could you correct my English?
Evidence of Poverty?
Several days ago, a Japanese TV news program said that some American people were proposing hanging out laundry to dry in the sun. At first I didn’t understand the point because most Japanese people hang out their clothes, except those who don’t have a balcony or a yard in which to hang things.
The news reader continued that hanging laundry is seen as evidence of poverty in the US, so some people protested against hanging the washing out to dry. They don’t like their town appearing to be poor.
I was shocked to hear this. We’ve always hung laundry outside, as we believe that using a dryer is a waste of electricity. Nobody protests against what we do. We have a drying tumbler, and we use it when the weather is bad.
So then, when American people come to Japan, do most of us appear poor to you? Do I appear very poor?
Thank you.
http://www.alachuacounty.us/document...98ee48fd2c.pdf |
Ah, the American psyche. Sometimes it seems so fragile, and there are no end of people for whom taking offense and being indignant is a career choice. I wouldn't take the protests seriously, Yuri. In a couple days, the same people protesting will find some other thing to complain about in their endless search for a few seconds of fame on CNN.
Although being Canadian, I do have trouble imagining people preferring to hang their clothes out to dry in the sun when a dryer usually is fairly affordable for most people. But by no means does that mean I think all countries must believe the same thing. Again referring to past anime series I have watched (specifically To Aru Majutsu no Index and Toradora), it appears both practical and "exotic" (for lack of a better word) to hang laundry out to dry in the sun or using a tumbler to dry clothes.
Confession: Though years ago, my family had a clothesline in the backyard where we hung out large items like blankets to dry, or shirts we didn't want shrinking in the heat of the dryer.
As for the post, there were a few revisions. Some were to correct minor typos and similar things. "One of the Japanese TV news programs" was changed to "a Japanese TV news program" to clarify the concept that a "news program" is an event that is both short in time and not a continuous occurance. That is, one news program does not continue as a single event that is ongoing into the future.
"In which" was inserted between "yard" and "to hang things" to provide a self-reference to "yard" as a place where the action of hanging clothes occurs. I do admit it does seem a bit too formal in language, so feel free to change it to something that better fits the tone of your post.
I split the concept of people thinking that hanging clothes out to dry means poverty, as the sentence it was a part of was too long with it and was awkward to read.
The major revision of the post was with this section:
"We’ve been hanging the laundry out. We believe that using a dryer is a waste of electricity."
was changed to
"We’ve always hung laundry outside, as we believe that using a dryer is a waste of electricity."
The first part about hanging laundry outside required the verb tense changing to a past form. Hanging laundry outside has happened in the past, and since the concept is being discussed more than the action itself, a past verb form "hung" is needed for complete understanding. The modifier "always" demonstrates that the action has occured frequently in past.
The second concept of dryers wasting electricity was merged into the first sentence because it adds information to the reason behind hanging laundry outside. In the original text, both sentences had the same subject "we" so having two separate sentences is confusing to the reader.
Quite a lot of information, Yuri. I hope it is mostly understandable. Finally, you do not appear poor. It's helpful individuals such as you that provide the reason this forum was made, not to mention its continued success.
Have a great day, Yuri!
