５月１２日の英文添削「日本語での解釈例」への挑戦として以下のものを書いてみました。講師のどなたかに添削して頂き結果を後日投稿します。これを機会によい英文が書けるようになりたいと思います。

I’m a developer of android application programs. A client came to me, and asked to solve problems in an application program for iPhone family terminals, which I’m not familiar with. I tried to explain to him why I couldn’t help him with the project.

“Let’s say you’re asking me to write something in a specific language,” I began. In retrospect, I was too brief in pronouncing this phrase.

I continued, “Now, I’m fluent in English and Spanish, but your project is in Chinese. Since I don’t understand Chinese, I’m not your best option. You need someone who is fluent in this specific language. See?”

He was satisfied with this lucid explanation, and thanked me before he left.

The next morning, however, I got a call from another developer. According to him, they had a client who seemed to have come to me on the day before, and the client kept asking them if they were fluent in Chinese, explaining that I had told him that he needed someone fluent in Chinese. The fellow developer wanted to know what it was all about.

The customer had clearly missed the beginning part of my explanation, while had he perfectly understood the rest of it. As a result, he was convinced that he needed someone fluent in Chinese to take care of his project. Therefore, the first thing he did when he visited another developer was to ask them if they were fluent in Chinese.