佐々木：300人も出席すると会議というよりは、講演会ですね。
木村：そうですね。まず壇上のお歴々の挨拶から始まりますよ。
O-rekireki
(Kaigi no seki de)
Sasaki: Sanbyaku-nin mo shusseki suru to kaigi to iu yori wa,
kooenkai desu ne.
Kimura: Soo desu ne. Mazu danjoo no o-rekireki no aisatsu kara
hajimarimasu yo.
(At a conference)
Sasaki: With 300 attendants here, ifs more like a
lecture than a meeting, isn't it?
Kimura: You're right. I'll bet you it starts off with the
bigwigs up on stage making speeches.
O-rekireki refers to a group of distinguished people. At a conference I attended the other day, o-rekireki ga danjoo ni zurari to naranda. (the dignitaries were lined up on the stage.): a section chief from the Ministry of Education, another from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the directors of other related organizations-about 10 people in all. I was sitting so far toward the back of the room that I could hardly see their faces. However, I was not bothered because kaigi no tame ni kita no de, o^ekireki no kao wo mi ni kita wake de wa arimasen. (I came to take part in the meeting, not to look at the big shots' faces.) I was curious about what they have to say, though.
I always wonder why the Japanese are poor at making speeches. At the meeting, where 300 people gathered specially for this occasion, all they did was stand on the stage droning relentlessly into the microphone. O-rekireki no aisatsu ga ni-jikan mo tsuzuita. (The dignitaries' introductory speeches dragged on for two hours.) Spreading out their notes, they seemed to have no idea but to routinely launch into their interminable monologues. They made eye contact with the audience only twice: once before they began and then again when they finished.
As they waded monotonously through their prepared manuscripts without stopping at all to encourage listeners to question, I wondered what's the idea of having people come here all the way from Hokkaido or Tohoku-participants could have read mailed copes of the statements at home.
In Japan, schools dedicate a long time to teaching students to read, but teaching them how to make a good delivery is never given much consideration. Consequently, when they speak publicly, they find themselves unable to establish an easy rapport with their listeners and fail to throw in an occasional joke.
If we ever hope to improve the skills of public addresses, o-rekireki to iwareru hitotachi no supiichi no renshuu kara hajimete hoshii desu ne. (I think our so-called VIPs should start the ball rolling by learning better speech techniques.)