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by AutoModerator
1 comment
Does Japanese have no equivalent word to “catch” in English, as in “to catch someone doing something bad”? I’ve seen some sentences with 捕まえる but in all of those examples, it’s ambiguous if it refers to “be seen doing something bad” or “arrest someone”. jisho.org says that 見つける can also be used, but I can’t find any exmaple sentences with it.
Side note:
A few years ago there was a minor political scandal where, during a parliamentary debate, a Diet representative was caught watching a video of a crocodile on his iPad. I read a few English articles about this, and they all use the word “catch” to describe the situation, as is commonly used for scandals (e.g. “Japan politician gets snappy after busted watching alligator video during Diet meeting”, “Japanese politician gets caught watching crocodile video during Diet session”). The word “catch” implies that his actions were something that he wanted kept secret, and that others would react negatively to.
Comparing this wording to Japanese articles about the same event, none of them use any words equivalent to “catch” to indicate the “unveiling” or “exposure” of the scandal, they matter-of-factly state that he was watching the video. E.g.
* [衆院内閣委員会で検察庁法改正案の審議中にタブレット端末で**ワニの動画を見る**平井卓也](https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200513/k00/00m/040/181000c)
* [香川出身の平井卓也さんが、国会の審議中にタブレットで**ワニの動画を見てた**という。](https://shueisha.online/articles/-/102358)
* [平井先生といえば昨年、国会の質疑中に**ワニ動画を見ていた**ことでブレイク。](https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/46127)
Without prior context, I would have assumed that he was watching the video because he believed it was relevant, or he was intentionally making a statement.
Of course I understand that wording and sentence structure is going to vary vastly between languages. But the way in the event is described is abrupt. Is a word like “caught” not necessary here, to convey that he was doing something bad and didn’t want people to find out?