Baby Questions

On Sunday, I helped a Japanese woman who works for the local government translate pediatric medical forms from Japanese into English. The government wants the forms translated so English-speaking foreigners will be less intimidated about having babies in Japan. I spent seven hours smoothing out her initial translations of check-up forms for 10-month, 18-month, and two-year-old children.

Below are some interesting questions pulled directly from some of the forms (questions are meant to be asked of the child’s main caretaker):

--Who is the main caretaker of the child? (Please circle) Mother / Grandmother / Other

--Do the child’s grandparents live close to you? If yes, how close?

--Are the child’s grandparents still married?

--Do you like to eat sweets?

--When you breastfeed, is the TV on in the background?

The following two questions are development questions:

--Circle the type of rice your baby is now eating: Mashed rice in water / Mashed rice paste / Very soft rice / Normal rice / Firm rice

--Does your child say “Let’s eat!” before he/she eats? [In Japan, people say itadekimasu before they start eating; roughly, it translates as ‘Let’s eat’.]