English Loanwords In Japanese

This book is a valuable contribution to SLA research. Apart from the obvious target of the book, SLA researchers and teachers anywhere in the world, it will be of particular interest to the Japanese community and to Westerners interested in Japanese language and culture. It is not easy to write a book appealing to audiences as disparate as this, but Daulton has managed to do this very well. He writes clearly and lucidly and makes good use of his teaching experience in Japan (Hakan Ringbom, Abo Akademi University). Japan offers a prime example of lexical borrowing which relates to language transfer in second and foreign language learning. The insights gained by examining language borrowing in Japan can be applied wherever language contact has occurred and foreign languages are learned.Many of the most important English vocabulary may already exist in native lexicons. This pioneering book examines Japanese lexical borrowing, clarifies the effect of cognates on foreign language acquisition, assesses Japanese cognates that correspond to high-frequency and academic English, and discusses using this resource in teaching. It includes extensive lists of loanword cognates.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,0, Free University of Berlin, language: English, abstract: Nowadays English has become the most important source of loanwords in Japanese by far. About 95% of all gairaigo loanwords (“words coming from abroad”, i.e. words originating from European languages) derived from the English language and it is estimated that about 5-10% of the Japanese lexicon are of English origin today (Stanlaw, 2004, p.1 + p.13). The status of the English language is high in Japan. It has become a marker of high education and openness to other (Western) cultures. Nearly every Japanese pupil is taught English for at least six years at school (from seventh to twelfth grade), but there is the possibility for private schools to start teaching eikaiwa (English conversation) from third grade on. English classes are obligatory for university students of all subjects, although it should be mentioned that these classes are usually overcrowded (often more than one hundred students) and that they take place only once a week for 90 minutes. A TOEFL test in 1997/98 among 26 Asian na-tions ranked Japan 25th and last together with North Korea (McKenzie, 2008, p 272). The Japanese government made heavy efforts to improve English teaching within the last decade. It was tried to motivate more Japanese pupils to spend a year abroad, only 1,000 Japanese pupils took chance of this opportunity in 2003, although there would have been provided money for 10,000 exchange students. Besides this, there are now more assistant language teachers - mainly from the inner circle of English speaking countries, but also, to a much smaller extent, from former British colonies - at Japanese schools to improve the eikaiwa lessons. The common eigo (English) lessons are still held by Japanese teachers and are strongly text and Grammar based, usually a translation into Japanese is given. Although the Western world was the model for the Japanese modernisation in the 19th and 20th century and English was without any doubt the means of communication with the West, the vast majority of the Japanese population has never become fluent English speakers.

Loanwords in Japanese is the first monograph in a Western language to offer a systematic and coherent overview of the vast number of words borrowed into Japanese since the mid-16th century. Its publication is timely given the fact that the loanword stratum’s recent exponential growth has given rise to recent Japanese government publications seeking to outlaw foreign vocabulary or, at the very least, offer native translations. Beginning with a history of loanwords, chapters cover loanword phonology, loanword morphology, loanword orthography and official and public attitudes to Japanese loanwords. The volume will be of interest to a wide range of researchers, scholars and students of the Japanese language.

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A continuation of the author's book, "English Loanwords in Japanese: A Selection" (1979). But this volume has more emphasis on the differences between English loanwords in Japanese and the original English words. Also deals with many more pseudo-loans, i.e. made-in-Japan "English" words. The book also offers sample sentences that include loanwords. Only loanwords of English origin are discussed. Words derived form French and German, for example, were excluded except for a few hybrids, i.e. compound words that are half English and half French or German. The Japanese have borrowed English words or created new pseudo-loans with tremendous vigor.

Toriningu-pantsu are not training pants for babies who have not yet been toilet-trained. Toreningu-pantsu are sweat pants. When you jump into a swimming pool you will get wet, but not necessarily uetto. Volleyball, which was invented in the United States, is known as bareboru in Japan, but the tennis volley was the English gentleman's pride before it was America's . A tennis volley is therefore pronounced in British style, bore, not as American bare. Oru means "all" but has a more limited usage. Bosu is often used more negatively than English boss. Many people imagine that speakers of English who study the Japanese language find their way eased by the profusion of "English words" the Japanese have borrowed. Students of the language, however, often complain that borrowed words are more problematic than the older terms in the Japanese word pool. One of the biggest problems is the lack of adequate reference materials on the terms. Many of the existing works do little more than define the terms. This book handles the problematic areas. Here a reader will find sample sentences, tips on usage, and warnings against easy-to-commit mistakes. There are fascinating studies of how certain "English" terms were coined in Japan and of what led the Japanese to redefine certain common English words. Miura examines how certain words entered Japanese, and why they became popular. He theorizes on why an unexpected pronunciation developed. In discussing the borrowed terms, the author draws on many linguistic scholars, discusses prevailing beliefs on etymology and pronunciation, and uses his own considerable experience with both English and Japanese to help the student gain control of some of the most problematic words borrowed by J apanese from English . Each of the 850 words discussed under the text's more than 350 main headings is included in a n index for quick reference. The detail and currency of the explanations contained in this book are unmatched by other books on the subject. For the student hard put to use these borrowed words, this text offers real help.

Japan remains one of the most intriguing yet least understood nations. In a much needed, balanced and comprehensive analysis, among other remarkable revelations, this book presents for the first time a vital key to understanding the organisation of Japan's society and the behaviour of its people. The Japanese are not driven by a universal morality based on Good and Evil, but by broad aesthetic concepts based on Pure and Impure. What they include as 'impure' will surprise many readers.