Forever Eighteen Never Goes Eighty.

     "How old are you?"

    It is one of the most frequently asked questions throughout the world, yet it can be one of the rudest questions to ask in some circumstances. It probably is not the best topic to start a conversation with, especially at the first meeting. Asking the question to somebody who's extremely sensitive about age talk might blow off a friendly mood.

    Despite this, we all know that the question is quite common in our daily conversations. Especially in Japan, age matters at the start of a communication. You are supposed to speak the honorific language to your seniors, and your voice tone also dramatically changes when you lower yourself. Like it or not, we cannot do away with age conversation.

    Sure enough, I've been asked this question so many times in my life. And of course, I also ask people their age, and their answers are usually genuine. In contrary, when I'm the one to answer, I always say that I'm eighteen. Nobody has complained about it, but, to be honest, I think it's pretty unfair. Why do they need to say their actual age when I'm foolishly saying that I'm eighteen with a beer in hand? So today, I'd like to confess to you the three reasons why I always answer that I'm eighteen instead of being honest about my age.

    The first reason for my eighteen-year-old claim is that I want to break the general rules of conversation. In daily conversation, there are rules of thumb that people unconsciously follow. And age talk also has its unspoken rule.

    When you ask somebody's age, the answer you get is almost always one of the following;

    "I'm twenty-two."

    "Oh, it's a top-secret!"

    "How old do you think I am?"

    If you're talking to somebody much younger than you are, you usually get a straight answer. However, when the conversation is between individuals in close generations, they tend to be more sensitive and secretive. And when the person asks you to guess their age, the psychology behind it is that they want you to please them by saying they look much younger than their actual age. The unspoken rule behind it is that you always have to deduct five to ten years from your honest answer if you want to buy their favor.

    How did we end up living with too many cliches and too many patterned talks? We need some fresh air!

    On the other hand, saying that I'm eighteen doesn't fit in any of those formats. It is too clear that I'm not that young, and I'm not even trying to fake my age to get some advantage. Question mark pops up in their mind, and it is where the conversation starts.

    "Eighteen? You're lying!"

    Blindsided by my answer, they would show some reaction like this. Usually, a simple conversation like this would follow scripted patterns in their mind. However, since my answer didn't follow their expectation, their brains are stimulated to get more active.

    I might say things like, "No, I'm not. I'm mentally younger than that. So I try to hit the balance and find myself to be eighteen as a whole. What about you? How old are you as a whole?"

    Things are getting quite wild because they have never stepped into such a conversation. The excitement of exploration urges them to think differently and makes their mind much more active and flexible!

    The second reason is that I want to keep a distance from the age hierarchy and stereotypes. 

    While respecting each other is a great thing, making a hierarchy based on people's ages isn't a cool thing to do. Nobody has chosen the year and date of birth, so their ages aren't their accomplishments based on their choices and efforts.

    One of the reasons I love English communication is because it makes us more friendly to each other no matter how old we are. Age hierarchy always gets in the way of open-minded communication because ages are just numbers given!

    Stereotyping people by their age is even more harmful because some people use those common stereotypes as an excuse to attack somebody. 

    "Hey, you're already old enough to understand this."

    "What's that attitude? I'm older than you."

    "You'll understand this when you're older."

    Whenever somebody told me such a word, I felt like this.

    "You don't understand that you and I are different, and I don't want to follow the course of life that enslaves you. Don't give me your mind cuffs just because you need to justify your views. I have a right to live my life, which is out of your box."

    The third reason is that I don't want to get old mind-wise. As you get more experienced and knowledgeable, the freshness of your mind tends to be lost. When you were a baby, the world you saw was full of surprises. Everything evoked your curiosity, and you enjoyed exploring the world using your sensory abilities to the full extent. Your fresh and open mindset even made you enjoy making mistakes.

    However, once you get accustomed to the size of living that you fit in and stop exploring the world by doing new things, extreme excitements that have pumped up your mind will turn to insipidness. You start to feel like you already know things enough, and your ego starts to make you feel embarrassed when you make a mistake like kids always do. That is how you choose the boredom of life over the spirit of great curiosity that possibly could have entertained you endlessly throughout your life.

    To my understanding, life is an endless cycle of becoming like a baby again and again because you'll never get to know everything about the world. Every morning when you wake up and open your eyes, you can refresh your mind, and the best way to do it is to go out to see new things instead of staying in your comfortable area.

    However, crawling around on the floor of Starbucks like a baby, smelling some random feet like a small kid, and getting kicked out of the place like a punk kid probably isn't a good idea. So I preferably choose to claim that I'm eighteen when my age comes up on the topic because it's a beautiful age between a kid and an adult!

    You might feel awkward when I say that I'm eighteen. However, don't think that as my dishonesty or deceptive trial to fake my identity, but I just want to enjoy a lively conversation. And I want to live who I am without stereotyping myself with general views. I can also do that without claiming to be eighteen, but since age has a lot to do with social stereotyping, I decided to walk out of it. And most importantly, I want my mind to stay fresh and flexible like a kid so my curiosity and energy would never stop growing.

    Forever eighteen never goes eighty!

Questions

1. Why is it so common to ask someone their age in Japan?

2. Why does the author think it's unfair to say that he's eighteen?

3. When do some people ask you to guess their age? 

4. What does it mean to get old mind-wise?

5. Why do people tend to lose curiosity as they grow older?

Translation

Make sure to;

1. Try to read the writer's mind.

2. Find out the thesis of the essay.

3. Imagine the setting and translate it into adequate expressions.

4. Try not to focus only on words but implied nuance so you would keep the spirit in the original alive.

5. Reflect cultural differences, if necessary, to make it easy for readers to comprehend the message correctly.

抑えるべきポイント；

1．書き手の頭の中を読み取りましょう。

2．エッセイの核（一番伝えたい中心メッセージ）を見つけましょう。

3． 場面を想定し、ふさわしい表現を使って訳するようにしましょう。

4．言葉だけではなく、言葉にならないニュアンスの部分に注意を払い、原文が持つ響きを活かしましょう。

5．読み手がメッセージを正しく理解できるように、必要に応じて、文化的な背景の違いもまた反映しましょう。

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