受講生5 男性
試験の様子
13:25集合、14:00移動、14：40本番開始。試験官は、外国人男性（発音に訛りあり）（50代？）、日本人男性（40代？）の2名。
質問内容
A:（係りの人がドアを開けてくださり）Good afternoon.
J: Good afternoon. Please have a seat and put your luggage here.
N: What's your name?
A: My name is ***.
N: Where do you come from?
M: I come from Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture.
N: I see. I've heard Omiya and Urawa…
A: Yes, three cities, Omiya, Urawa, and Yono merged together around 2000, creating Saitama City.
N: Yes, I remember that. What do you think is the best sightseeing spot in Saitama City?
A: Saitama City is a mixture of the old and the new. When you walk around Omiya Station, you can find shopping districts, department stores, and many modern skyscrapers. But, what I recommend to you most is Hikawa Shrine. It has hundreds of years of history. On New Year's Day, many people make their first visit to the shirine. And, it has a huge Torii gate. Torii gate is a gateway to a Shinto shrine, which consists of two big pillars standing on the street with two crossbars on top. (ジェスチャーを交えて説明)
N: Sounds interesting. OK. Let me ask you a few questions about Japan. When I first came to Japan, I was very surprised to see so many Pachinko parlors. Why are Pachinko parlors so loud inside?
A: Pachinko is a kind of gambling. If you win the game, you can make a lot of money. On the other hand, if you lose the game, you will end up losing a large amount of money. So, I think the noisy sounds of Pachinko parlors energize customers, stimulating them to spend a large sum of money on it. That's one of the reasons why Pachinko parlors make noisy sounds, I think.
N: I see. That's an interesting point. Have you ever played Pachinko?
A: No, never. But I currently work in Kawagoe, and there’s a Pachinko parlor between the station and my workplace. To my surprise, whenever I walk past it, there are so many people standing in line!
N: Wow. Pachinko is actually very popular in Japan. OK. Let's move on to the second question. You know, Japan have imported many cultural things from foreign countries. Could you give me an example?
A: Christmas, I think.
N:（少し笑いながら）Yes. But why have Japanese people imported many cultural events from overseas?
A
: I think that's partly because of Shinto, which is a Japanese indigenous religion. The basic concept of Shinto is to live in harmony with everything else. That's one of the reasons why Japanese people observe Christmas and many other cultural events regardless of their origin.
N: I understand. And Japan also imported many words from foreign countries.
A: Yes, there are many loan words in Japan. I'll give you some examples. (しかし具体例がすぐに思いつかない) Sorry, but… Oh, for example, I work for a bank, and many of my colleagues use the word "financial statement" without translating it into Japanese. So I think such loan words will increase more in the future.
N: I see. And Western countries also imported Japanese words such as "otaku".
A: Yes. Otaku can be translated as nerd or geek in English, but I think it is unnecessary to translate them for most foreigners now. I can use the word directly. And I've heard some Japanese words recently appeared on English dictionaries.
N: That's true! Oh, time is running out.
J: （日本語で）それではここからは日本語で質問をします。通訳ガイドになったらどのような点に注意してお客様をご案内しますか？
A: 私はお客様の安全を第一に考えます。外国人のお客様の中には、3月に起きた地震と津波の影響もあり、日本が安全な国であるということを疑問に思っておられる方も多いと思います。そのため、外国人の方には万が一災害が起こった場合でも安全を確保できるということを分って頂くために、あらかじめ災害対策や避難場所について説明できるよう心掛けたいと思っております。
J: わかりました。それではここで試験終了です。ありがとうございました。
A: Thank you very much for taking your time. ありがとうございました。
（部屋を出るとき会釈してSee youと述べた。）
試験を終えて
試験の大半がネイティブ試験官とのやりとりでした。ネイティブ試験官は穏やかで優しい方で、こちらの応答に対してしっかりと何かしらの反応をしてくださいました。日本人試験官は物静かな方で、最初のあいさつと最後の日本語での質問以外は特に発言はされませんでした。試験内容についてですが、「パチンコ店の中はなぜうるさいのか」という質問は想定外でした。しかし、「来店客を刺激してより多くのお金を使ってもらうため」という趣旨の応答ができたため何とか切り抜けられました。自分の職場の近くにあるパチンコ屋について触れることができたのも良かったと思います。ただ、二つ目の質問中に尋ねられた「借用語」の具体例をすぐに思いつけなかったのが悔しいです。「最近の銀行員は“財務諸表”ではなく"financial statement"と英語のまま言うことも多い。これも借用語の一種。」と応答し何とかごまかしましたが、不安が残ります。良くできたところ、不安が残るところ、多々ありますが、自分なりにはベストを尽くせたかなと思います。
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