A Siren Goes Off Over the Whole Neighbourhood in Japan. One Word in the Announcement Tells You Not to Run.
To say This is a drill. in Japanese, say これは訓練です (kore wa kunren desu).
The loudspeaker on the pole starts up. Siren, announcement, the lot. Everyone around you keeps walking, because there's one word in there that you missed.
これは訓練です
kore wa kunren desu
This is a drill.
In this video
- これは訓練です。 kore wa kunren desu. This is a drill.
- 訓練、訓練。これは訓練放送です。 kunren, kunren. kore wa kunren hōsō desu. Drill, drill. This is a drill broadcast.
Kanji in this phrase
- これは
- これわ
- 訓練
- くんれん
- 放送
- ほうそう
Why this phrase
Late August into early September is drill season in Japan, around 防災の日 on the first. Towns test the loudspeakers, schools practise, and in some places phones get a practice alert. A drill broadcast has to say what it is, and it does that with 訓練, as in 「これは訓練です」. Its twin is テスト, the word on the nationwide speaker tests. A real warning carries neither.
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