In Japanese, there are many "gai rai go".
Gairaigo means borrowed words.
For example, these words below are ones which were imported
directly from abroad.
ドア （doa）= door (from English)
イエロー（ierou）= yellow
アルバイト Arubaito = Arbeit (from Germany)
カステラ = Castela (from Portuguese)
Each words are pronounced so Japanese can pronounce easily.
These borrowed words are written in Katakana.
But there are words, called Wasei eigo (English made in Japan)
Wasei = made in Japan
Eigo = English
These words are written in Katakana. So those seem to look like
borrowed words. But, they are not.
For example....
We call a modular bath "Unit bath(ユニットバス)".
We call outlet "consent（コンセント）"
We call windshield or windscreen "frontglass(フロントガラス)".
Japanese people misunderstand those words as borrowed words
if words are written in Katakana. So they get surprised when they
know that those words are made in Japan.
It is said that Japanese culture absorbs various cultures of abroad
and arranges those cultures by mixing our own cultures.
That's the history of Japanese culture. We imported various
religions, clothes, lifestyle, foods, music, paintings, theater play,
books....and so on.
In my impression, there are "not" so many people who are highly pride of
our own cultures. Japanese's self-evaluation toward our cultures is not so high.
Maybe that may be because our culture strongly focuses on the sense of
modest. So, foreign people get surprised to know Japanese people
don't have a lot of knowledge about our own cultures.
10 comments:
borrowed words or words made in Japan - to me all are harder then the Japanese words. I know it sounds strange, but to me it is much easier to learn words written in kanji and hiragana, then words written in katakana. I know in advance that when I see a word in katakana, it is (most probably) an english word and I can read it, but for the life of me I cannot recognize the word :( So, never mind that it is a word with english origin - I still have to learn it just as any other Japanese word.
Shantal ForSD
Oh, really?
Do you have this kind of words in your
language?
There are many English Words that are actively used in daily life in Denmark, but they are used "as is" - pronounced and written in English. So, there is no problem recognizing them. English is the second official language in Denmark, so everybody is fluent in speaking/reading it.
To Shantal ForSD
It's hard for me to imagine
the "second official language".
Is news on TV broadcasted in English? Do people read newspaper in English? In what case do people speak Enligh in daily life?
We, here in Poland, do have a couple of borrowed words, but not as many or as "interesting" as in Japanese.
We usually take an English word, and write it in a way a Polish person would say it... for example:
English: Mail(as in e-mail)
Polish: Mejl(which is phonetically very similar)
We also often incorporate foreign words as if they were Polish ones(by adding suffixes), for example:
English: Extraordinary
Polish: Extraordynaryjny
Nvaier
Do you know any Japanese
words that were used in Polish?
marimari
There aren't many, but I can find a few examples. Truth is though, most of them are very tightly connected to Japanese culture.
Japanese: shogun
Polish: szogun
J: geisha
P: gejsza
J: Fuji
P: Fudżi
The pronunciation doesn't quite match, and it's not because we wouldn't be able to say it - Polish and Japanese are very similar phonetically. The real reason is the fact, that the words themselves didn't come directly from Japan. They were based on the English pronunciation, and as you know "romaji" isn't all that accurate.
Nvaier
It's hard for me to imagine
people in Poland know about
those words. Because those
words are not used in your daily
life,you know?
marimari
Well, we all learn them in school
on history classes(those words
also are also common in pop-culture)
so almost everyone knows them.
However, like I said, we don't
really have any Japanese
adjectives or verbs in use in Polish.
My country never had much to do
with Japan historically, so that's
probably why.
We mostly borrowed words from the
languages of our neighbors(German,
Russian, Czech).
As for English... well. We would
have to go a few years back.
Polish people, in the past,
perceived the USA as a
"dreamland", and admired
everything from within.
That's why using English words has
became a sort of a fad amongst the
Polish nobility.
It was the starting point for the
process that changed our language
very considerably.
Nvaier
That's interesting.
Actually, Japanese culture has absorbed various American cultures since the end of World War 2.
That's because Japanese people used to think America is the ideal country. (But nowadays, the situation is changing.)
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