H: Grace describes a poll she took of A&A managers, many of whom said people were dressing more casually than before. Ueda mentions the Cool Biz campaign in Japan, but says Japan’s offices are a long way from going casual. Grace talks about the kinds of equipment that are now standard in American offices as well as the so-called gig economy.

business casual dress code

ビジネスカジュアルという服装規定

H: Relatively casual clothes that are still appropriate for the workplace. Maybe requiring men to wear a dress shirt, but no jacket or tie. Likewise women could wear a nice sweater with a shirt or slacks instead of a more formal women’s suit. I’ve also seen things like dressy casual on a party invitation. That’s a similar idea, so things like maybe a nice but not too formal dress.

S: いまヘザーさんはdressy casualと言っていましたね。他にも例えばsmart casualとかいくつかの表現方法があるんですけれど、何がbusiness casualで何がsmart casualで何がdressy casualなのかという定義はあまりはっきりしていないんですね。一般的に言えばテニスシューズやTシャツなどはこういった範疇に入らないとされていますがオフィスウェアがカジュアル化しているので、そういったものもbusiness casual、ビジネスの場における比較的カジュアルな服装の範疇に入ってくるようになるかもしれませんね。

humid 

湿度の高い、むしむしする

S:Ueda Shotaが中ほどで言っていました。hot and humid summer months、高温多湿の夏の時期ということですね。

H: Another way to say this less formally is muggy. There’s also sultry weather and that means humid and hot.

S: muggy、蒸し暑い。日本の夏についてよく使われる形容詞です。humidからhumidifierといえば加湿器のことですね。

be a long way from

何々には程遠い、何々はまだ先のことだ

H: Something will not happen for a long while. It won’t be achieved for a long while. Such as “We’re a long way from curing cancer.” Or “He’s still a long way from opening his own business.”

S: 何々どころではない、何々とは決して言えないといったようなニュアンスですね。

go the casual route

カジュアルの道を行く

H: Or go the casual . That’s fine, too. Go the something route means take a certain approach. For example, many people are not buying expensive items these days. They’re renting them. So a lot of people are going the rental route. Or he’s decided to go the freelance route instead of working for a company full-time. 

concern

何々に関わる、何々に関係する

H: In this case concern means be related to, involves. Such as “This study concerns the obesity problem in the United States.” Or “Gender equality is an issue that concerns all of us.”

the rule rather than the exception

例外ではなく普通のもの

H: The way things usually happen, rather than the unusual event, the normal event, no the deviation from the norm. Nowadays having a cellphone is the rule rather than the exception. 

gig economy 

インターネットを介して単発あるいは短期の仕事を請け負う非正規労働で成り立つ経済形態。

H: A gig is a job or a task that’s usually for a limited time or one project. Musicians especially have gigs. “The band has a gig next week at the club.” Or “She has a speaking gig at the university this year.” And the gig economy is the world of jobs assigned on a one by one basis. Gig economy workers include freelance translators, drivers who work for ride-sharing services, that sort of thing.

work side by side with

誰々と並んで働く、一緒に働く

H: Work alongside would be OK here, too. Work next to, in other words. Work closely with. “He parked alongside the building.” Or “We worked side by side on the project for two months.”

 

　

H: McMillan asks about recent trends in the workplace and Grace cites an employee benefit that has become particularly important for A&A staff. 
Salmans says the traditional performance reviews once conducted annually are now considered obsolete. 
Pearson adds that the atmosphere and clothing at workplaces have become more casual. 

be all the rage

大きなブームである、大流行している

H: Be the latest popular trend, be very popular lately. Yogurt is all the rage these days. Or voluntourism is all the rage now. You can also say the thing or the latest thing. Like, wide neckties are the thing these days.  

S:いまヘザーさんの言っていたのは、all the rageに代わるフレーズとして、the thingあるいはthe latestということですね。the latest thing in computersと言えば最新のコンピューターということですね。

in line with 

何々に合致して、何々に沿って

H: Or in keeping with. Matching those trends, adjusting to those trends. We’re lowering our prices in line with market trends. Or we’re changing our design in line with consumer feedback. 

employee benefit 

従業員給付、従業員の福利厚生

H: Lydia Grace says “Well, maternity leave has become an important employee benefit.” A perk provided to employees. We also say benefits to refer to money that’s paid to people who need financial help. Unemployment benefits are paid to people who are out of a job. Disability benefits to people who have suffered a disability and can’t work. 

S:複数のbenefitsと言うと従業員向けの金銭による給付ということですね。人事の人たちはbenniesなんていうふうに略して言います。

compete for 

何々を求めて競う、何々の獲得競争をする

H: Grace could also say vie for top talent. V-i-e. Try to be better than other companies so that talented people, top talent, will work for you instead of the other companies. Students compete for scholarships. Employees vie for promotions. 

S: vie for top talent、vie、いまヘザーさんがv-i-eというふうにスペルアウトしてくれました。発音は ですね

retain

つなぎとめる、保持する

H: Keep, in other words. The team decided to retain their head coach for another year. And we also have the word retainer, which can mean a fee paid to retain to have on call the services of a  professional adviser, like a lawyer or a consultant. We have several tax attorneys on retainer.   

S: retainerというのは弁護士とかコンサルタントに支払う依頼料のことですね。だいたい毎月同じ額を請求する、活動の多少に関わらず一定額を顧問料として支払うもの、それがretainerですね。

become outdated

時代遅れになる、陳腐化する

H: Become out of date, outmoded, no longer appropriate for technology or ways of thinking. He has very outdated ideas about women in the workplace.

clumsy 

ぎこちない、下手な、扱いにくい

H: In this case, clumsy means awkward, inefficient. A clumsy presentation might include confusing charts, for example. Or the speaker might talk too much about irrelevant things. And people who are physically awkward are also called clumsy. If we trip a lot, drop things, bump into things. I’m very clumsy. Once I tripped and fell down some stairs.

S:いまヘザーさんはphysically clumsyと言って例文を紹介してくれましたね。この場合のclumsyというのは、すぐ物を壊してしまうほど動きがぎこちない、といったような意味ですね。

inaccurate

不正確な

H: Not accurate, not correct. The company released inaccurate sales data. Or to use the noun, his bio had a few inaccuracies. He was born in 1965, not 1967. 

　

 

S: In our current vignette, Bill Nissen describes how his previous boss told him to speak his mind. He said his door was always open. However, it backfired when his boss actually resented his honesty. Have you ever experienced something like that, Heather?

H: Not quite but years ago I did get a harsh lesson in office politics. Basically I had just joined the company and I foolishly spoke ill of one staffer to another. I believe I was right in what I said but I shouldn’t have said anything until I had determined whose loyalties lay where. Because long story short, the person I complained to was very close to the person I was complaining about. And the person I complained to told the person I was complaining about, passed on what I’d sad. From that point on, I was irrevocably on their bad side. In retrospect it was especially foolish because the person I was complaining about had been at the company for a while. All I can say in my defense is that I was very young and inexperienced. 

S: Some lessons have to be learned the hard way, I guess. Nissen goes on to say that he began to burn out, that it was a struggle to get up in the mornings, 

H: That sounds like a real danger sign. I’m glad that the character got out of such a stressful environment and I hope that more and more people will be able to do that in real life as well. I’m sure many people try to soldier on through destructive situations because they have career dreams and they’re conscientious employees but no one, no one should sacrifice their mental or physical health for a job. I would say to them “Why should you destroy yourself? Why should you go to such lengths for a company that obviously would not do the same for you? If they’re not willing to show you the devotion that you’re showing them, then they don’t deserve you. Look for something else. There must be something else.”

S: The vignette also discusses how Millennials are spending more money on experiences, which is hurting retail stores.

H: We had a story on this in the paper not too long ago.   Apparently department stores and fashion buildings in Japan are trying to tackle this problem by offering rental or experience-based services. According to the article, Sales are department stores were down 40 percent in 2016 from their peak in 1991. So now we’re seeing things like a Japan department store that offers workshops for making accessories. Another location was hosting one-time lessons in things like photography and English conversation under the theme of casual self-improvement. Their aim was to attract young women on their way home from work.