常時英心:言葉の森から 1.0

約10年間,はてなダイアリーで英語表現の落穂拾いを行ってきました。現在はAmeba Blogに2.0を開設し,継続中です。こちらはしばらくアーカイブとして維持します。

counter-positioning

2日ぶりに下界のニュースをあさってみると飛び込んで来たのがこれ。五輪招致のため先般、ニューヨークに出かけていた東京都の猪瀬直樹知事がNYTのインタビューで余計な発言をしてしまったようです。詳しい経緯はわかりませんが、同紙は早速、知事の差別発言を記事でとりあげ、波紋がひろがっています。


In Promoting His City for 2020 Games, Tokyo’s Bid Chairman Tweaks Others


With less than five months to go before the International Olympic Committee chooses a city to host the 2020 Summer Games, the three remaining bidders — Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo — are increasing their efforts to win over delegates and the public.

The Olympic committee’s rules prohibit bid committee members from directly criticizing other bids. Instead, the bidders often highlight the perceived strengths of their bids to note delicately what they believe to be their rivals’ shortcomings, something known in the communications industry as counter-positioning.

Naoki Inose, the governor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and chairman of the Tokyo 2020 bid, has often done that, highlighting his city’s extensive and efficient transportation system, as well as the financial and technical wherewithal to build first-class sports sites and housing for the athletes. He has also noted that, like Paris and London, Tokyo has hosted the Summer Games before, a claim that Istanbul and Madrid cannot make.

But Inose has also pushed the boundaries of rhetorical gamesmanship with occasionally blunt and candid statements about how his city compares with the competition, particularly Istanbul, which he has suggested is less developed and less equipped to host the Games.

“For the athletes, where will be the best place to be?” Inose said through an interpreter in a recent interview in New York. “Well, compare the two countries where they have yet to build infrastructure, very sophisticated facilities. So, from time to time, like Brazil, I think it’s good to have a venue for the first time. But Islamic countries, the only thing they share in common is Allah and they are fighting with each other, and they have classes.”

Asked later to elaborate on his characterization of Istanbul, a spokesman said Inose meant that simply being the first Islamic country to hold the Olympics was not a good enough reason to be chosen, just as being the first Buddhist country or the first Christian country would not be, either.

The spokesman said Inose did not mean to refer to “class.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/sports/in-praising-its-olympic-bid-tokyo-tweaks-the-others.html?_r=0


couter-positioningは、ライバルと自分との比較しながらライバルを落とすコミュニケーション手法のことです。今のところ「反ポジショニング」とそのまま訳されています。英英のFree Online Dictionaryをみてみますと、counter-position (v)で"To set in contrast, opposition, or balance."とあります。
ロンドンでの例の英語PRでもそう感じましたが、異文化の現場は苦手な方なのではないでしょうか。今後の展開を見守りましょう。(UG)


http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20130117/1358390106
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20130429/k10014263411000.html