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Jap-English
Introduction | International Dialects | Facts about Japanese and English | Word list of Jap-English
Japan is a country relatively new openned to the world. For this reason, we found Japanese in an Asimilation* or Borrowing* stage in which all the words coming from that "New World" (the West) are being incorporated to the Japanese Vocabulary (It is through the KATAKANA Alphabet that the Japanese represent such words).
*Note: The Japanese is being through the same asimilating/borrowing process that English has been through since its origins, so the process will continue, as still happens with English
For this reason, you will likely find a vast number of foreign words adopted for the Japanese to meet the lack of such terms in the Japanese Language since they belong to items that did not exist in Japanese before this new "opening" to the Western Culture. For example: "sombrero", "patisiere", "computer", etc. The mayority of these foreign words have an English origin and they all suffer a "shortening" effect once incorporated to the Japanese Vocabulary. For example, for the word "computer" Japanese people refer to it as "pa-so con" which is nothing more than a shorter way to say "PERSOnal COMputer".
The "problem" is when Japanese people use English words and mix them under their own logical understanding to create a new word. For example: "first aid box" is what they call to a "fisrt aid kit". This might sound logical, but it is not real english, I mean, if a Japanese National goes abroad to a Enlgish-native-speaking country and s/he uses such expression, the listener might not have very clear what it is being said. Another example: "housing". This is a word that Japanese use to refer to "Real state". It is clear that a english-native speaker might not have a clue of what do you mean when using such word, even though Japanese people perfectly understand it. This is what we call "JAP-ENGLISH" , "JAPLISH" or "JANGLISH". It is not wrong, but it must be clear that such words ONLY HAVE MEANING in the country where they were created
(Japan). The good news is that EVERY SINGLE LANGUAGE has their own "local" version of English words. So, we can find Spanglish, Arablish, etc.
International Dialects with Ties to English:
Anglikaans/Anglicaans
Anglonorsk
Arablish
Benglish
Chinglish
Deutschlish/Gerlish
Dutchlish
Eurolish
Franglais/Frenglish
Hindlish/Hinglish
Indonglish
Inglish
Italglish
Japlish/Janglish
Manglish
Minglish
Punglish
Russlish
Singlish
Spanglish
Swedlish
Taglish
Tamlish
Wenglish
Yinglish
Nevertheless, English is a "Crazy Language". Therefore, sometimes I find that Jap-English is more logical than English since the latter sometimes has more exceptions than rules! (lol). And if you don't believe me, take a look at this great article "Why English is a language hard to learn?"
These are some FACTS about Japanese people and English Language:
Japenglish Word | Meaning in English | ||