理想の翻訳家像195とグラマーワード【tell】

第195段

▼翻訳家E氏：
理想の翻訳家像や、翻訳者になった理由は？
中学生の頃から英語が好きで、翻訳家が自分の天職と考えたから。
「文字を置き換える」以上のことをしたいと思っています。

バックナンバー

今週のグラマーワード【tell】

This week, I’d like to write about the word “tell”. The verb “tell” has more than one meaning. The main meaning of “tell” is to say something to another person.
However, there is a second meaning which is to be able to notice something about someone or something based on your observation of that person or thing. For example:
What’s wrong with Nathan? I can tell that something is bothering him.
Is Paula telling the truth? I can never tell if she’s lying or not.
My wife can always tell if I’ve been drinking, and she doesn’t like it. I’d better not have a drink.

Most of the time, this meaning of “tell” is used to talk about other people. In these cases, the person observes the other person and realizes the truth about them.