December 23, 2011　=========

☆ objective　目標

============================

Most English speakers use the words, “goal” and “objective”
interchangeably, as they believe they have the same meaning.
I found an interesting article explaining the difference, here are
The key points:

Goals are generally long-term, but objectives are short or medium-term.
Goals are intangible, objectives are more specific.
Goals are hard to measure on a timeline, but objectives should have a
specific end date.

Here’s some examples:
Goal for a company: To increase profits.
Objective: Increase sales of product X by 10% by December 31st.

Goal for an individual: To improve my English.
Objective: To get over 650 on my next Toeic test.

Bye,
Chris
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多くのネイティブは、「goal(ゴール)」と「objective(目標)」という言葉を、区別せずに同じように使います。
このふたつの言葉の違いを説明した興味深い記事を見つけました。
要点は以下の通りです：

ゴールは長期で、目標は短・中期的なもの
ゴールは漠然としているが、目標はより明確なもの
ゴールは時間を計るのは難しいが、目標は具体的な期限を区切るべきもの

例を挙げてみましょう：
Goal for a company: To increase profits.
Objective: Increase sales of product X by 10% by December 31st.
(企業のゴール：利益を挙げる　
企業の目標：12月31日までに商品Xの売り上げを10％上げる)　

Goal for individual: To improve my English.
Objective: To get over 650 on my next TOEIC test.
(個人のゴール：英語の上達
個人の目標：次のTOEICのテストで650点以上を取る)

それでは！
クリス