Thursday, December 21, 2006

The word of "farmer"

Before keeping today's diary, I'd like to say "thanks" to Jan.
Yesterday she sent an e-mail, and taught me useful words. She suggested to use "a strawberry farmer" instead of an orchardist , and moreover told "an horticulturist of straberries" is better.

I really understand, thank you.
I always welcome such e-mails and comments.

Well, the word of "farmer" recall me one thing.

More than 10 years ago, when I visited to my daughter's school on parents' day.
A New Zealand lady was invited to tell us about her country. Besides her one man was standing as a volunteer interpreter.

She told "farmers" having sheep. He interpreted "NOUKA no hitsuji ga --- " and was confused. And of course we (parents and kids) were also confused.
His interpretation was right, "farmers" means "NOUKA". BUT in Japan usually "NOUKA" don't have sheep , usually they grow rice, vegetables. so we heard the Japanese sentence strange.
He needed to add some extra explanation, "in New Zealand it is usual thing for "NOUKA" to have sheep". (I think he didn't know that.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In America, farmers grow crops (such as corn, soybeans, and wheat). Some farmers also raise livestock (such as cattle or poultry). However, if raising livestock is the main activity, I'd call the person a rancher.

The distinction is ambiguous. I would feel comfortable saying either "sheep farmer" or "sheep rancher". However if I said "cattle rancher", I imagine a person who raises cattle for meat especially from the western states. If I say, "dairy farmer" I imagine a person who raises cattle for milk and lives in the midwest.

[A person who raises sheep] は日本語で何といいますか。

Mieko said...

To M.Sinclair Stevens
Hello, thank you for your comment with "clear Japanese".
That's a good question, actually I was thinking about the word when I wrote the diary. In Japan though a few dairy farmers might raise sheep, we usually don't have sheep so we don't have the special word. And probably we call both of dairy farmers and cattle ranchers "RAKUNOKUKA" (酪農家).
Because cattle ranchers are not so many.

Well, people who lived in HOKKAIDOU might have another opinion, because most of "rakunokuka" are in HOKKAIDOU