草薙恵子さんは広告会社に勤めています。ある
晩
、遅く帰ってきました。
| 恵子1: |
ただいま！ |
| 母1: |
お帰り。遅かったわね。 |
| 恵子2: |
また、山本部長に残業させられてたのよ。あんな会社、もうやめたくなっちゃった。 |
| 母2: |
残業はどの会社でもあるわよ。 |
| 恵子3: |
でも、今日は仕事の後、友だちとばんご飯を食べに行く予定だったのよ。 |
| 母3: |
そんなこといつでもできるでしょ？ |
| 恵子4: |
でも、毎日、過去のキャンペーンの資料を読ませられたり、会議のメモをとらされたりして、せっかく好きな会社に入れたのに、私がしたい仕事はぜんぜんさせてもらえないのよ。 |
| 母4: |
あなたがしたい仕事ってどんな仕事？ |
| 恵子5: |
たとえば、プロジェクトの計画を立てたり、プレゼンをしたりとか… |
| 母5: |
入社してまだ半年しかたっていないのに、そんな大切な仕事をさせてくれる会社はないわよ。逆に、今、急にプロジェクトをまかせられたら、できないでしょう？ |
| 恵子6: |
でも、… |
| 母6: |
「石の上にも三年」って言うでしょ？ 三年間がんばってもやりたい仕事をさせてもらえなかったら、その時にやめるかどうか考えればいいのよ。 |
Translation
| Keiko1: |
I’m home! |
| Mother1: |
Welcome home! You are late. |
| Keiko2: |
Ms. Yamamoto made me work overtime again. I’m starting to feel like quitting that company. |
| Mother2: |
There’s overtime at every company. |
| Keiko3: |
But I was planning to go out to dinner with my friends after work today. |
| Mother3: |
You can do that anytime, can’t you? |
| Keiko4: |
But... And every day, they make me read materials from past advertising campaigns and take notes at meetings. I finally got into a company I really wanted to work for, but they won’t let me do any of the work I actually want to do. |
| Mother4: |
What is the kind of work you want to do? |
| Keiko5: |
For example, planning projects, giving presentations, things like that... |
| Mother5: |
You’ve only been with the company for six months. No company is going to let you do such important work yet. Besides, if they suddenly put you in charge of a project now, you wouldn’t be able to handle it, would you? |
| Keiko6: |
But... |
| Mother6: |
You know the saying, “Three years on a stone,” don’t you? If you work hard for three years and they still won’t let you do the kind of work you want to do, then you can decide whether you want to quit. |
Cultural Notes
| 1. |
せっかく — After All the Effort / Now That...
せっかく is used when something has been achieved through considerable effort or when a valuable opportunity or favorable situation has arisen. It often implies that the speaker does not want that effort or opportunity to go to waste.
せっかく好きな会社に入れたのに、私がしたい仕事はさせてもらえないのよ。
I finally got into a company I really wanted to work for, but they won’t let me do the work I actually want to do.
When せっかく is followed by ～のに, as in this example, it often expresses disappointment that an effort or valuable opportunity has not produced the expected result. |
| 2. |
石の上にも三年 — Perseverance Pays Off
石の上にも三年 is a Japanese proverb that literally means “three years even on a stone.” The idea is that even a cold stone will eventually become warm if you sit on it long enough. It teaches that patience and perseverance will eventually bring results, even when something is difficult or unpleasant at first. In the conversation, Keiko wants to quit her company after only six months because she is not being given the kind of work she wants to do. Her mother uses 石の上にも三年 to advise her not to give up too quickly, but to gain experience and give the job more time. The 三年 should not necessarily be taken literally. It represents a substantial period of perseverance rather than an exact three-year requirement.
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