The phenomenon of language borrowing is in no way unique, but it seems to stand out more in the Japanese language than others. And in a way, this presumption is true. Japanese has adopted an astounding number of loanwords. Even the written language, consisting of 3 distinct writing systems, gives way to the amount of borrowing that has gone on over the centuries.

However, borrowing, especially from English, has become even more exaggerated in the post WWII era, almost certainly kicked off by the occupation period. Loanwords are everywhere in Japan. They’re like air. You can’t get away from them.

But are they air? Or are they a pollution in the air? That is the question asked by many people in Japan. Taking in loanwords at such a rate has not been a trouble-free, clean-cut process. In fact, so much borrowing has created a bit of a sticky mess in the language; the whole process has rendered many words elusive to both second language learners and native speakers alike.

Borrowing: A Linguistics Perspective

Swiper no… swiping?

So how has Japan, a relatively isolated country with its own distinct language, been able to borrow foreign words at the rate they have? Actually, Japanese has certain linguistic characteristics that have made borrowing much easier than some other languages.

The main reasons why Japanese has accepted foreign words so easily has to do with the lack of nominal inflections and the presence of a syllabary writing system. In other words, Japanese nouns do not change based on person, number, or gender like many other languages do, and since words are simply separated syllabary particles, it makes it easy to just plop a foreign word in the midst of a Japanese sentence where any native word might appear. As for adjectives and verbs, foreign words can be inserted as な (na) adjectives and する (to do) can convert anything into a verb without any changes to the original word. Magic! (I always wondered why there were so many な adjectives and する verbs in Japanese.)

So, foreign words have had an easy time slithering their way into Japanese language from a linguistics perspective, but that hasn’t stopped them from wreaking havoc across the land in their own special way, plaguing both Japanese learners and native speakers.

Making Changes

“I spy, with my little eye…English words!”

You’d think with number of foreign loanwords floating around in the language, Japanese would sound slightly less like “moon speak” to non-Japanese speakers. However, foreign loanwords have been warped and maimed beyond the point of recognition in many cases, making understanding Japanese all the more frustrating!

When a foreign word is adopted in Japanese, it goes through many changes (like a beautiful butterfly). First of all, loanwords are converted to Japanese characters (usually katakana), changing their pronunciation altogether. On top of that, the meaning of a word may shift, a word may be simplified, and sometimes words will even be completely invented! For me, it is particularly upsetting when I think I understand a loanword from English, when actually I don’t know squat. Basically, I can’t even understand my own language in Japanese a lot of the time. Yep. Let’s take a look at some of the changes foreign words have undergone to become a totally different animal.

Changes in Meaning

“Honey, them times… they are a changin’”

Changes in meaning often happen in the process of foreign borrowing. The meaning of a word may be narrowed, widened, specialized, shifted, downgraded, you name it. At this point, I’ve come to believe that it’s someone’s job to sit in an office and figure out the best way to mutilate the English language before it enters Japan. Honestly, I really want that job.

Narrowing and Specialization

When a word’s meaning is narrowed or specialized, only one aspect of its original meaning is adopted as the new loanword. So in other words, a word that originally has a more general meaning is changed to mean something very specific.

Examples:
ホテル  /  hotel  /  Western-style hotel
ステッキ  /  stick  /  cane
ライス  /  rice  /  rice served on a plate
アルバイト  /  work  /  part-time job (usually student)
ダイエット  /  diet  /  purposely losing weight
ストライキ  /  strike  /  demonstration, strike
ストライク  /  strike  /  strike (in baseball)
ゲイ  /  gay  /  relationship between men only
ドレス  /  dress  /  extravagant dress

Extension

The widening of a word’s meaning is not nearly as common as narrowing, but it does happen. In these cases, a word’s meaning is more generalized, or used to describe a broader range of ideas.

Examples:
レジ  /  register  /  cash register, cashier
ハンドル  /  handle  /  car steering wheel, bike handlebar, any other handle

Shifts in Meaning

It’s a fairly common occurrence for a word’s meaning to be shifted when it is enters another language. This means that the original meaning of a word is completely changed, and all hope of the foreign language’s speakers understanding it is lost. “What? サイダー (cider) means soda?!” Check it out:

Examples:
アベック  /  avec (with)  /  a romantic couple (old saying)
フェミニスト  /  feminist  /  a man who indulges in women; a gentlemen
マンション  /  mansion  /  large apartment complex
アイス  / ice  /  ice cream
カニング  /  cunning  /  cheating
バイキング  /  Viking  /  all-you-can-eat-buffet

Of course, Koichi’s post “These Words Are English, But You Won’t Understand Them” goes over even more examples.

Downgrading

“Downgrade? Honey, I only do upgrades.”

The meaning of a word can sometimes be downgraded, too. Downgrading is the lowering of importance or rank in terms of the social significance a word holds.

The examples below clarify this phenomenon.

Examples:
ボス  /  boss  /  the head of a group of politicians or gangsters
マダム/ママさん  /   Madam/mother  /  owner of a drinking establishment

Inventing Words

“Mathmatical!”

Just as many words were created in Japan from Chinese characters in the past, today many new “foreign” words are just inventions. I don’t know about you, but the concept of new English words being created in another language makes me feel both amazed and downright strange.

Often times new foreign words are created in Japanese by combining two or more already existing terms to make a completely new one. Sometime only parts of words such as the -er suffix are used. Some of the most bewildering words are invented by creating acronyms from foreign phrases. As you can imagine, this renders “foreign” words completely unrecognizable to speakers of the word’s language of origin. Mama mia! Invented words are so numerous, it would be insane to list as many as I could here, but here’s a nice sampling:

バックミラー  /  back + mirror  /  rearview mirror
テーブルスピーチ  /  table + speech  /  dinner speech
オーエル  /  OL  /  office lady
オールドミス  /  old + miss  /  an old, childless woman
ヘルスメーター  /  health + meter  /  a bathroom scale
ソープランド  / soap + land  /  a brothel
アイスキャンディース  /  ice + candy  /  popcicle
マイホーム  /  my home  /  a privately owned home
マイカー  /  my car  /  a privately owned car
パートタイマー  /  part-timer  /  someone who works part-time
ナイター  /  nigher  /  a night baseball game

Simplification

Taking words directly from another language is often times not the most convenient thing, especially when the word is 100 letters long and no one can pronounce it (antidisestablimentarianism? Riiiiighht). So, why not make it shorter? The Japanese have a tendency to shorten words more so than other languages. Four syllable abbreviations seem to be preferred, but you may also see other variations.

Examples:
アルミカン  /  aluminum can
セクハラ  /  sexual harassment
プリクラ  /  print club (purikura)
テレビ  /  television
トイレ  /  toilet
パソコン  /  (personal) computer
リモコン  /  remote control
エアコン  /  air conditioner
デジカメ  /  digital camera
ワープロ  /  Word processor

Confusion at Home

“English? You have wrong number.”

If learning loanwords is confusing for foreigners, it’s really not that much better for the Japanese population themselves. Since foreign loanwords are not written in Chinese characters anymore, Japanese people can’t easily guess their meanings if they don’t already know them. On top of that, foreign words are being poured into Japan at such a rate that even natives don’t understand them anymore. It is also difficult to learn these words because they are often introduced and then dropped faster than a hot potato, leaving no time for full absorption into the language.

NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) conducted a multiple choice survey to see just how well foreign adopted words are understood by people in Japan. The results turned out to be very mixed and depended largely upon respondent groups. In other words, comprehension of foreign words depends largely on factors such as educational and occupational background. The survey also showed that foreign words were mostly understood in their Japanized forms, not in the context of their language of origin. It’s no wonder learning English can be difficult for Japanese students, they know a completely alternate version of it!

Movements have been made (mainly by angry old men) to stop the flow of foreign words into Japanese at the rate it’s been happening, but the madness continues. Stopping such a formidable force is no small feat, and language purist are undoubtedly fighting a losing battle as the “foreigners” take hold of their language. In fact, one 71 year old tried to sue NHK Broadcasting for the “mental distress” caused upon him because of all these foreign words.

But, when foreign words are being adopted, abandoned, changed, and invented the way they are in Japan, it really begs the question: “what is a loanword?” Can I call “back mirror” an English loanword? I honestly don’t know anymore. What do you think about loanwords in Japanese? Have you had trouble learning them? Do you think adopting so many words is advantageous or just silly? Let me know in the comments below, yo.

Read All the Posts in This Series:
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 1: Where the Japanese Language Came From
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 2: Twisting Words
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 3: Why They Do It

I think that I might make mistakes more than most people, but I bet that anyone who is learning a new language will make a lot of mistakes too. Yet, we can always learn from our mistakes, and once we make one, we will try not to make the same mistake twice. That being said, some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

Japanese People and English

Although many older Japanese people have never had training in English, most of the younger generations have studied English for three years in junior high school and another three years in high school. In most Japanese universities, English is an obligatory subject as well, so many of the university graduates have studied English for a total of ten years or more.

However, Japanese teachers mainly focus on English grammar and reading, so they do not teach listening, speaking and pronunciation as effectively as they should. This is true and has been used as an excuse to explain Japanese people’s poor English ability in listening, speaking and pronunciation. But if you have ever seen funny Japanese peoples’ EngRish, you know that we aren’t necessarily excellent in grammar and reading either. For myself, I used to say ‘a sox’ and ‘soxes’ instead of a sock and socks. I finally realized that it was wrong two years graduating from university. Last night I learned that I was saying ‘teethbrush’ instead of ‘toothbrush’, too, so I guess it never stops.

Mixing up English words.

One particular time that I mixed up some English words was particularly funny / embarrassing. One summer day, while studying English in Canada on my working holiday program, I was planning to go to a farewell party for my Russian classmate. After ESL school that day, I went back home to drop off my textbooks. I walked through the back door and my homestay dad asked, “Do you wanna have a beer with us?” Usually, I’d immediately burst out with a “Yeeesss!”, but I had the farewell party to go to that day, so I ‘mournfully’ said, “Sorry, I have to go to a funeral party for my Russian friend today”. Yep, I mixed up the word ‘funeral’ and ‘farewell’.

I saw my homestay dad’s face turn really sad and kind of surprised. I didn’t understand why he looked so upset at the time and just thought he really wanted me to drink beer with him. When I went to the party, I heard my friends say ‘farewell’ party and at that moment I remembered what the word I used with my homestay dad actually meant. “Oh, no”. I thought. I was so embarrassed.

My “Embarassed” face

I think that mixing up words while speaking is a problem that many other people encounter, too. One of my friends was invited to a party at a restaurant. She got a seafood dish, but her shellfish hadn’t been cooked enough. When a waitress came over and asked them how everything was, she intended to say, “I don’t like your shellfish at all”, however, she told the waitress, “I don’t like your selfish at all.” The waitress was shocked for a moment and just said sorry to her and left. Not surprisingly, she got upset because it seemed as if the waitress didn’t care that her food wasn’t good and did not replace her dish for her. Her friends finally pointed out that she had said ‘selfish’ instead of ‘shellfish’.

Another friend of mine was talking about his niece and nephew and how they are so cute and how he lives for them and tries to spoil them whenever he gets the chance because he was never spoiled when he was a child. While telling us this, he surprised us by saying, “I try to live ‘bi-curiously’ through them.” As you probably have already guessed by now, what he meant to say was, “I try to live vicariously through them”. Although he is a slightly perverse person, ‘bi-curious-ly’ did not quite fit, even for him. Everyone made fun of him for a long time after that mistake – It’s been going on for three years now.

Mixing up Japanese words.

Photo by yoppy

As you probably already know, a typical Japanese sentence is formed by using 3 sets of characters: hiragana, katakana and kanji. Although hiragana is normally used for the grammar, the connection between words, the particles, etc, beginners probably write the whole sentence in hiragana or prefer a sentence written in hiragana. However, it will become lengthy and actually more difficult to comprehend than a sentence that also includes katakana and/or kanji.

Although it’s still possible to understand the sentence after reading it or its context carefully, you will find it difficult to figure out which of the hiragana formed a word without reading a few times. Moreover, you may mix up particles and other Japanese words and it could turn into a really silly sentence.

For example, the following sentences are written totally in hiragana, but could mean two or more things depending on the katakana and/or kanji.

ぱんつくったことある。(pantsukuttakotoaru)
パン作ったことある？(Have you ever made bread?)
パンツ食ったことある？(Have you ever eaten underwear?)

にくかった。(nikukatta)
肉買った。(I bought some meat.)
憎かった。(I hated him/her/it.)

きのうえきにいった。(kinouekiniitta)
昨日駅に行った。(Yesterday, I went to the station.)
木の上気に入った。(I like the place on the tree.)

きょうとしよりきたよ。(kyoutoshiyorikitayo)
今日年寄り来たよ。(Today elderly people came over.)
京都市より北よ。(It’s North out of Kyoto city.)

ねえちゃんとふろはいった？（neechantohurohaitta?)
ねえ、ちゃんと風呂入った？(Hey, have you taken a bath properly?)
姉ちゃんと風呂入った？ (Did you take a bath with your sister?)

はしのはしをみてください。(hashinohashiomitekudasai)
橋の端を見てください。(Look at the edge of the bridge.)
箸の端を見てください。(Look at the edge of the chopsticks.)
端の端を見てください。(Look at the very edge.)
ハシの箸を見てください。(Look at Hashi’s chopsticks.)

If you make use of katakana and kanji, the whole sentence become shorter and easier for you to understand. However, during a conversation, you can’t read the katakana or kanji. Therefore, I believe that many people who study Japanese mix up Japanese words too.

I’m going to introduce some examples out of the ‘Gaijin Pot forums.’

I would sometimes go into KFC and order a Chicken Burger, however, I was pronouncing it wrongly, “Chikanbaagaa” until one day I actually pronounced it correctly, “Chikin baagaa”. However, the arubaito guy who had served me a few times before said “Chikin baagaa desu ne? Chikan baagaa ja nai desu yo ne?”, which made another arubaito girl standing near by burst out in laughter. -Since1990

Chikin: chicken
Chikan: a molester

I got the words 人参 (にんじん) and 妊娠 (にんしん) mixed up one day. The woman became a carrot rather than pregnant! -Scrum Doctor

Ninjin: carrots
Ninshin: pregnant

I once heard of someone getting angry at people on the train when he realized that they were staring at him. Apparently he meant to say, “I’m not an animal, I’m a human being!” (私は動物じゃない、人間(にんげん)です！), but it came out as, “I’m not an animal, I’m a carrot!” (私は動物じゃない、ニンジンです！). -Since1990

Ninjin: carrots
Ningen: person, human

The two words I confuse the most though are vacuum cleaner (sojiki) and funeral (soshiki), with often embarrassing results. -renkachan71

Sojiki: vacuum cleaner
Soshiki: Funeral

After being in Japan for just a few months, and having only mastered the really essential expressions, I went up to one of my older students at a bar to ask if she had had a lot to drink: “おっぱい飲む？” I asked. She retorted with one of the few other words I had picked up:バカ！-Dennis

ippai: a lot
oppai: boobs, breast milk

As you can see, other people make these mistakes too! If these people can make embarrassing mistakes like this and move on, you have nothing to worry about. A mistake is just a mistake, after all!

Failure Teaches Success

See? There are so many mistakes already. I’d like to say “失敗は成功のもと（しっぱいはせいこうのもと / shippai wa seikou no moto)” meaning “failure teaches success” to everyone learning Japanese here! Even Michael Jordan said, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” It’s not a 冗談 (“joudan” is pronounced the same like “Jordan” and means “a joke”). Sorry, that was a little bit of a 寒い (samui:lame) pun. Anyway, don’t hesitate to speak incorrect Japanese to get better at Japanese. It will only help you to get better!

But not to fear! I’ve returned today to shower you with gifts. Gifts of knowledge and prosperity. Your Japanese skills will soar and…ahh, what the heck. Let’s just get on with it. Here’s some words related to the Japanese summer with a few colourful anecdotes. Because, you know, language and culture are inseparable. Kinda like this twisted daikon above. Also a mini giveaway for you hungry learners at the end of this post!

夏バテ (natsubate) – Summer Lethargy

Here in Japan, summer comes in a self-contained bubble of humidity. For about 3-5 months of the year, temperatures soar and people drop like flies having had all the life force sucked out of them. You might imagine that everyone slips into a zombified state doing nothing but waving 扇子 (sensu – folding fans) or うちわ (uchiwa – paper fans) and you wouldn’t be far off. So yes, right now yours truly is attempting to fight off zombifiction from the suffering summer heat. That’s natsubate for you!

セミ (semi) – cicada (noisy insect!)

Ahh, the sound of summer. Do you have these little critters where you live? For me in the U.K, we always had a resident wood pigeon who would coo sweet pigeon melodies down our chimney pipe. Now when I leave the house it sounds like a battleground, littered with the corpses of these short-lived insects. Personally, my ears have always interpreted the noise as the sound of Spaniards. (No offence to our Spanish friends our there, or the Inquisition!) Si si si si si si si si si. Sisisisisisisisisssss…..

かき氷 (kakigoori) – Shaved Ice.

Or so the dictionary tells us. I prefer to think of them as mounds of delicious cool. Covered with your favourite flavoured syrup (awesome, two British spellings in a row, right there!), these heavenly creations can be the only thing keeping you alive through many hot days. Other summer necessities include ちゅうちゅう (chuu-chuu) – flavoured ice lollies – or ガリガリ君 (garigari-kun) – a particular brand of ice pole sporting a kid with big teeth!

線香花火 (senkou-hanabi) – Sparkler

A kind of Japanese sparkler. You get all the fizz and crackle of normal sparklers, but with a curious little ball of hot goo forming at the tip. The ball grows bigger and bigger as the firework continues, before dropping to the floor and dying. People compete to see whose ball will hang on the longest. Very poetic and a great metaphor for many things Japanese, I reckon – the fleeting beauty found in transient objects and all that. I’m curious though, do they have these fireworks in other countries? I’ve only seen them in Japan myself.

There you have it then. A few summery Japanese words. Little and often eh? That’s the best way to keep up your Japanese studies, young grasshoppers (or should I say cicadas? har har har).

Well, I know you guys can’t get enough of giveaways around here, so as I promised here’s another great chance to win cool stuff from Japan. I have not less than *12* sets of prizes to ship out, including:

Stuff for learning Japanese while lounging in the loo.

And items for poking people with.

How about a pointy Japanese phrasebook to help your language studies?

Or, since we all worship the Tofu-gu around here, some authentic tofu-flavoured paper! In actual tofu packaging!

Oh yes. These and a Schoolboy-coat-man signed postcard from Japan could be yours. All you have to do is tell me what your best advice is for learning a foreign language.

Check out the full post for detailed information (and an embarrassing video!) I’m also giving a little time extension because you all rock. You have until Wednesday 25th August 2010! Not long then! Go for it!

P.S. If you think summer is too warm, you should follow Gakuranman on Twitter.

P.P.S. If you thought that tofu flavored paper was a good idea, you should try to win something from his contest.