Shoes or Position?

Hi, this is Jiro.

What if an interview between two celebrities were quietly rewritten by editors — and what if the rewritten version appeared only in the Japanese edition?

I may have come across such a case in an interview between Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine.

The interview itself is interesting enough. Meryl Streep famously played Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada 1 and 2, a character often said to have been based on Anne Wintour herself.

So here we have the actress and the possible real-life model sitting face to face.

A Remark About Shoes

One day, while reading the English version of the interview, I came across an exchange that caught my attention.

The interviewer asked what each woman might have done if they had exchanged professions. What would Anne Wintour have done as an actress? And what would Meryl Streep have done as the head of a global fashion empire?

Streep replied:

“You run a multinational corporation, that’s all…. I would dread the shoes. Every day, wow, to pull it together…”

At first I was puzzled. Why suddenly talk about shoes?

Then I remembered the expression “put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”

In English, shoes can mean more than footwear. They can also suggest someone’s position, role, or responsibilities.

Interestingly, this  expression sometimes appears in Japanese university entrance examinations. Many students memorize it as part of so-called juken-Eigo — English studied for entrance exams.

Such expressions can feel rather artificial when you are preparing for tests. Yet years later, one of them suddenly helped me make sense of a real interview in a fashion magazine, juken-Eigo being more useful than widely believed.

If so, Streep’s remark becomes much more interesting. She seems to be saying,

“I could never do your job.”

Every day Anne Wintour has to lead a huge organization, making difficult decisions and keeping everything running smoothly.

The comment struck me as both witty and respectful.

Then I Read the Japanese Version

Imagine my surprise when I checked the Japanese version.

There, the remark was translated roughly as:

“I would hate to wear shoes like Anne’s every day. I really admire her.”

The focus is now almost entirely on fashion. The possible meaning of “position” or “responsibility” seems to have disappeared.

At first I wondered whether the translator had missed the double meaning of “shoes.” But that seems unlikely.

Then another thought occurred to me.

Perhaps this was an editorial decision.

After all, Vogue is a fashion magazine. Maybe someone felt that a comment about corporate leadership was less suitable than one about fashion. The result is a version that feels more fashion-oriented and less business-oriented.

Of course, I cannot prove that. It is only a guess.

Still, I find the possibility fascinating.

Why Read in Another Language?

One thing is certain.

This article would never have been written if I had read only the Japanese version.

Sometimes reading a foreign-language edition alongside the version in your own language reveals something unexpected—not just about language, but about editing and presentation.

We often think that language learning gives us new information.

Sometimes it also gives us a glimpse behind the curtain.

And, unexpectedly, it can remind us that some of the expressions studied for university entrance exams were not always pointless after all. 

The world of English is far broader than the English studied for entrance examinations.

So perhaps it is time to take off your old student shoes, once and for all.

After all, there is still a road ahead.

Happy English learning!