Departments
Are You Experienced?
経験
As Japan is the land of on-the-job training, the Japanese tend to place an emphasis on experience over formal education. A person with a great deal of experience might be described as keiken ga hoofu経験が豊富, or merely as a keiken-sha 経験者:
Mori-san wa kooiu shigoto no keiken ga hoofu de aru kara shin-yoo dekiru to omoimasu.
森さんはこういう仕事の経験が豊富であるから信用できると思います。
“Mr. Mori has abundant experience with this kind of work, so I think that we can trust him.”
* * *
Kono purojecto chiimu ni wa keiken-sha ga sukunai node chotto shimpai desu yo.
このプロジェクトチーム には経験者が少ないのでちょっと心配ですよ。
“There are few experienced personnel on this project team, which is kind of a worry.”
* * *
When a person doesn’t have experience, the simplest option is to say, keiken ga nai 経験がない. However, for economy of words, you may wish to use the word mikeikensha 未経験者:
Yamada-san? Kare wa shinnyuu-shain de mada mattaku no mikeiken-sha desu.
山田さん？彼は新入社員で、まだ全くの未経験者です。
“Yamada? He’s a new employee, and still completely inexperienced.”
* * *
Mijuku 未熟 means “unripe”. The first level of this word’s meaning refers to unripe fruit or vegetables:
Kono mijuku na nashi wa aji ga suppai desu.
この未熟な梨は味が酸っぱいです。
“The taste of these unripe pears is bitter.”
* * *
On a metaphorical level, mijuku can also refer to a skill that is still undeveloped or unpolished. The word mijuku-mono 未熟者translates into “greenhorn”:
Watashi no Nihongo wa mada mijuku desu ga, isshokenmei benkyoo shite imasu.
私の日本語はまだ未熟ですが、一所懸命勉強しています。
“My Japanese is still unpolished, but I’m studying hard.”
* * *
Konpyuutaa no mijuku-mono na no ni Maikurosoftu no seihin no tsukaikata ga daitai wakarimasu.
コンピューターの未熟者なのにマイクロソフトの製品の使い方が大体わかり ます。
“Although I’m a novice when it comes to computers, I generally understand how to use Microsoft’s products.”