学生：先生、日本語のクラスが一週間に一度しかないのは少なすぎますよ。
先生：でも、初めからそんなにはりきると、疲れてしまいますよ。
Harikiru
Gakusei: Sensei, nihongo no kurasu ga isshuukan ni ichido shika nai no wa sukunasugimasu yo.
Sensei: Demo, hajime kara sonna ni hankiru to, tsukarete shimaimasu yo.
Student: One Japanese class a week just isn't enough.
Teacher: But if you exert yourself too much at the beginning, you'll wear yourself out.
Harikiru means to exert or stretch yourself, sometimes with the suggestion of pushing yourself too far through your own over enthusiasm.
This April the government, in cooperation with the World Bank, started up an Infrastructure Management Program at Yokohama National University. There were 233 applicants from 30 different countries, out of which 10 candidates from nine countries were selected. By the year 2001 there will be 40 students on the program.
To teach such an elite group of students from all over the world is a great opportunity for me. I started choosing textbooks and preparing materials two weeks before the beginning of the term. Sensei, zuibun harikitte irasshaimasu ne (You're really exerting yourself, aren't you?), said one of the office staff, surprised at my enthusiasm. Tokubetsu harikitte iru wake de wa nai wa (I'm not particularly exerting myself), I told them, but considering that I had not even met the students, I suppose that my preparation of all these materials could be seen as harikirisugi (overexerting myself).
In the first class we practiced greetings, such as ohayoo gozaimasu, konnichiwa, konbanwa, sayonara, shitsurei shimasu and arigatoo gozaimashita. Everyone spoke loudly and clearly as they imitated my pronunciation and gestures. The door to the classroom was left open, and as some of the office staff passed by in the corridor, they were surprised at how enthusiastically the students were responding. Anna ni harikitte, tsukarenai deshoo ka (Don't they get tired, exerting themselves like that?), they asked me, rather worried. But the students always look happy when they're studying, so I don't think there's anything to worry about.
There are so many things I want to teach them from now on. And because they're such a wonderful group of students, I feel that Hankirazaru wo enai (I have to exert myself).