アメリカは日本に比べると建物も道具もすべてサイズが大きくがっしりしています。レストランで出される食べ物もスーパーでパックにして売られている食材も量が多く、繊細で少量に慣れている日本人の中にはこの大胆さに驚く人もいます。確かにアメリカの人は他の国とは違う独自のサイズ感があるように思います。国も大きく人種も様々、話す言葉も英語が第一言語でない人も多いこの国では、このぐらい大雑把なほうが上手く調和できるのかもしれません。
そんなアメリカには独自の優しさと大らかさがあり、その一つを病院で見つけました。痛みがどのぐらいか１から１０まで示すランキングマークです。これが何ともユーモラスで、しかもなかなか賢いのです。日本でもこんなマーク、使っているのでしょうか。日本語には痛みを表す微妙な擬音語がたくさんあって便利ですが、人に分かってもらうにはなかなか難しいこともあります。自分の痛みの度合いをこの絵で差せば、言葉の障壁はある程度なくなるのではと思い、感心しました。それに、「ふふっ」と笑えるところも痛みの緩和に役立つような気もするのです。昨日は６の痛みだったけど、今日は２と４の間かなぁ......なんて。
でもやっぱり、痛いのは辛いですね。
Compared to Japan, the size of the buildings and equipment in the US are much larger and sturdy. The portion of the dish for one person is large and the amount of one pack of the vegetables and meat at a supermarket are big and heavy. This surprises many Japanese people. Indeed, it seems that American people have a different sense of size from other countries. I think it would be good to adjust to the US, which is big, has various races and many people whose first language is not English.
I sometimes feel generosity and sweetness when I am in the US. For example I felt that recently in the hospital, where I saw a ranking mark of the pain of the patient drawn in illustration. It shows the steps from one to ten and each face of the illustration is humorous, funny and smart. I wondered if it is used in Japan as well. We have many different expressions of pain which are often used in onomatopoeia and they are very useful but still sometimes we have problems telling or sharing the pain with other people. In one of the illustrations, you can tell how much pain you feel without saying the sentences and that is very helpful for the person who is a non-native English speaker. There is another merit of this picture pain ranking. This funny illustration makes you laugh and I think it reduces your pain. Looking at this illustration, you might say "my pain was #6 yesterday, but it is between #4 and #2 today."
Anyhow, it is so pitiful if you have any pain.
