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For Life
2009.06.02

Here are a couple of tasty, salty additions to any Japanese meal!

Today's LessonCATEGORY: 間違いやすいボキャブラリー
SOY SAUCE / SEAWEED   醤油/海藻

Explanation

  • Soy sauce is a dark brown, salty liquid made from soybeans and used for cooking, especially in East and Southeast Asia.

    Seaweed is a plant that grows in the sea; for example, nori, konbu, and wakame.

    Be Careful! Although the word “shoyu” (醤油) is now often used in English to mean Japanese-style soy sauce, there are still many native speakers who won't understand what it means.
  • soy sauce とは、大豆から作られ、特に東アジアや東南アジアで料理に使われる、濃い褐色の塩辛い液体、つまり、醤油のことです。

    seaweed とは、海に生育する植物、つまり、海藻のことです。例えば海苔、昆布、ワカメなどがあります。

    注意:現在では、日本式の醤油を表すのに、英語で shoyu という言葉がよく使われますが、まだ英語のネイティブスピーカーの多くは、この言葉の意味を理解していません。

SOY SAUCE / SEAWEED

examples

  1. (Japanese host to American guest)
    You dip the sashimi in the soy sauce.
  2. (customer to supermarket employee)
    Do you carry low-sodium soy sauce?
  3. You probably shouldn't swim here. There's a lot of seaweed in the water.
  4. A California roll is sushi rice stuffed with cucumber, artificial crab meat, and avocados, all wrapped in seaweed.
  5. We were served a breakfast of grilled salmon, miso soup, and some rice with dried seaweed on the side.

英会話レッスンBy the way, don't be surprised if you see an American pouring soy sauce over his or her bowl of rice. For many Americans, soy sauce and rice go together like ketchup and fries!