昭和貧乏話②

Table of Content:

1. Japanese Text

2. Vocabulary and Phrases

3. English Translation

1. Japanese Text

娘：ねえ、お母さんの子どものころってどんな感じだったの？お母さん貧乏だった？テレビとかってあったの？

母：テレビは私が大体高校生くらいのころだったかな。それまではラジオ聴いてたからね。あの頃は貧乏だったね。私のお父さんも工場で働いてたんだけどさ、すごく忙しくて、大体月に一回、二回休みがあるかないかじゃないかなあ。ほとんど毎日働いててさ、たまにある休みも、家がボロボロだったんだけど、家の修理とか家具の修理とかそういうので、もうお父さんはずっと働いてたね。

娘：えー、おじいちゃん休み月に一回くらいしかなかったの？それ超ブラックじゃん。鬱とかにならなかったのかなあ。

母：まあでも、そのころはそれが当たり前だったからね。でもねえ、意外にみんなすごく楽しそうにしてたよ。その頃はね、どれだけ忙しくても誰も文句もなんも言わなかったし。あとね、その頃はなんか日常の当たり前なことが楽しかったね。例えば、その頃はね、みんな忙しかったんだけど、夕飯食べるときだけ家族みんな集まってさ、その頃何話したか覚えてないけど、なんか家族でみんなで話してるのがすごく楽しかったなあ。なんかねえ、その頃はすごく簡単なことが楽しかった気がする。

2. Vocabulary and Phrases

●どんな感じだった？：What was it like?

●ボロボロ：worn out, ragged

●〜とかそういうの：Like ~, stuff like that

●ブラック：an exploitative company (「ブラック企業」)

●鬱（うつ）：depression

●〜が当たり前だった：~ was normal (back then)

●文句も何も言わない：never complain or grumble

●当たり前なこと：very ordinary things

3. English Translation

娘：Hey mom, how were the things like when you were small? Were your family poor? Did you have TV?

母：I think it was around when I was in high school that we got TV. Before that we were listening to the radio. We were poor then. My dad was working at the factory, but he was so busy. It was like, one or two days off in a month. He was working almost every single day. Even in some rare occasion when he didn't have to go to work, we were living in a shabby house, so he was trying to fix the house, repair furniture, stuff like that. He was anyway working all the time.

娘：Really!? Only one day off in a month? That's so exploitative. Wonder if he got depressed or something.

母：Well, but that was normal back then. But somehow, everyone looked happy. At that time, no matter how busy you are, nobody complained or said anything. Also, the ordinary daily things were enjoyable back then. For instance, even though everyone was busy, when it was time for dinner, the whole family would gather. I don't remember exactly what we talked about, but just having a conversation with the family was somehow really fun. I feel like we could get pleasure out of simple things in those days.