Berkeley Diary

Masaki YAMAOKA



Feb/8/2006  My Findings of Word Lag(7)  Tomar-e VS. Yield


       We see road signs at every site downtown. Some of them are the same as the Japanese road signs and some of them are different from the Japanese ones. For example, the signs of "No Entry" at exits of one-way streets look like Japanese ones. In both of them, the colors are red, the shapes are circle, and white rectangles are on the center. (An English phrase "DO NOT ENTER" is, of course, only on the USA sign.)
No Entry "No Entry" in USAShinnyu Kinshi"No Entry" in Japan

       One day, at an intersection without a traffic signal, I found a road sign which is a triangle turnd upside down and looks like Japanese "Stop" sign. A Japanese word "Ž~‚Ü‚ê" (Tomar-e, Stop) is on the Japanese sign, likewise, an English word "YIELD" is on the sign of USA. Then I thoght that it was an American "Stop" sign. Actually every car stopped in front of the sign. At that time, I do not know the meaning of the word "Yield". I misunderstood that "Yield" means "Stop".

       Another day after that, I found the same "YIELD" sign as the road sign on a window inside a bus. I was confused why this "Stop" sign is such a narrow space inside a bus. Then after I came back home, I looked up the word in my dictionary. When I found the word "Yield", I laughed spontaneously. I realized the "Yield" word in the road sign instructed not to stop, but to give way for another car. And the "Yield" word inside bus instructed to give the seat to senior persons or disabled persons. Namely, the sign indicates the seat is "Priority Seat", and the word "Yield" corresponds the Japanese word "Yuzur-e".

Yield"Yield" in USATomare"Stop" in Japan


 

To: Soka University HP (English)
To: Department of the Japanese Language and Literature HP
To: Masaki YAMAOKA's HP: Index