Make your feelings about a situation crystal clear with ‘okage de’ and ‘sei de’

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Make your feelings about a situation crystal clear with ‘okage de’ and ‘sei de’

Change of plans: Many events were canceled this year because of COVID-19, but hope is on the horizon thanks to the efforts of scientists around the world to develop vaccines. | GETTY IMAGES

By Ryan Norrbom
Contributing Writer

Feb 18, 2021

It’s been almost a year since Japan started implementing school closures and event cancellations to prevent the spread of 新型コロナウイルス (shingata koronauirusu, novel coronavirus).

ちょうど去年の今頃、楽しみにしていた博物館の展示がコロナのせいで中止になりました (Chōdo kyonen no imagoro, tanoshimi ni shite-ita hakubutsukan no tenji ga korona no sei de chūshi ni narimashita, Just around this time last year, a museum exhibition I was looking forward to was canceled because of COVID-19).

There’s now a little bit of hope. 世界中の科学者の努力のおかげで、ワクチンが開発されています (Sekaijū no kagakusha no doryoku no okage de, wakuchin ga kaihatsu sarete-imasu, Thanks to [because of] the efforts of scientists around the world, vaccines have been developed).