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In Japan, when someone is about to take a test, enter a sports event, or start a new job, it is customary for others to say “Gambatte!" to him or her. This expression （ 1 ） roughly as “Work hard!" This would sound very strange in English. The usual English expression would be just the （ 2 ）: “Don't work hard" or “Take it easy." Americans would assume that anyone in such a situation would already be keyed up and wouldn't need to be told to work hard. Instead, he or she would need to be reminded to （ 3 ）. So, when my children were in Japanese elementary school, and would be starting out for a sports meet or a test. I would tell them “Gambatte!" in Japanese and “Take it easy" in English. Then, they would （ 4 ） to walk out of the house horribly unbalanced －－all tensed up on one side, and hanging loose on the other. An interesting point here is that Americans usually think of being calm as being relaxed, while Japanese think of it as being self-controlled. Japanese self-control seems to be carefully hold （ 5 ） in. |