Gairaigo

"Gairaigo" (外来語) is Japanese for "loan word" or "borrowed word", and indicates a transliteration (or "transvocalization") into Japanese. In particular, the word usually refers to a Japanese word of foreign origin that was not borrowed from Chinese. Japanese also has a huge number of loan words from Chinese, accounting for a sizeable fraction of the language. These words were borrowed during ancient times. Modern Chinese loanwords are generally considered "gairaigo" and written in katakana.

Most, but not all, modern "gairaigo" are derived from English. Words are taken from English for concepts which do not exist in Japanese, but also for other reasons, such as a preference for English terms or fashionability.

In the past, more "gairaigo" came from other languages besides English. The first non-Asian countries to have extensive contact with Japan were the Netherlands and Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries, and Japanese has several loanwords from Portuguese and Dutch, many of which are still used in Japan today.

In the Meiji era, Japan also had extensive contact with Germany, and gained many loanwords from German, particularly for medicine, which the Japanese learned from the Germans (the Japanese word for Germany, "Doitsu", comes from the German word "Deutschland"). They also gained several loanwords from French at this time.

In written Japanese, "gairaigo" are almost exclusively written in "katakana", but not always. Older loanwords are also often written using "ateji" ("kanji" chosen for their phonetic value) or hiragana, for example "tabako" from Portuguese, meaning "tobacco" or "cigarette" can be written タバコ ("katakana"), たばこ ("hiragana"), or 煙草 ("kanji"), with no change in meaning.

For a list of terms, see the List of Gairaigo and Wasei-eigo terms.

False cognates and wasei-eigo

Due to Japanese pronunciation rules and its mora-based phonology, many words when spoken in their entirety take a significant amount of time to pronounce. For example, a one-syllable word in a language such as English ("break") often becomes several syllables when pronounced in Japanese (in this case, "burēki", which amounts to four moras). The Japanese language therefore contains many abbreviated and contracted words, and there is a strong tendency to shorten and simplify words. This also takes place with "gairaigo" words. For example "remote control", when transcribed to Japanese, becomes "rimōto kontororu", but this has then been simplified to "rimokon". For another example, "depāto" = department store. Portmanteaus, such as "wāpuro" for "word processor", are common. "Karaoke", a combination of the Japanese word "kara" (meaning "empty") and the clipped form "oke" of the English loanword "orchestra" (J. "ōkesutora"), is a portmanteau that has entered the English language. Ordinarily, Japanese takes the first part of a foreign word, but from the English words "flannel" and "blanket" they took the second syllables, to form the "gairaigo" "neru" and "ketto".

Some Japanese people are not aware of the origins of the words in their language, and may assume that all gairaigo words are legitimate English words. For example, Japanese people may use words like "teema" (from German "Thema", meaning "topic") in English, or "rimokon", not realizing that the contraction of "remote control" to "rimokon" took place in Japan.

Similarly, "gairaigo", while making Japanese easier to learn for foreign students in some cases, can also cause problems due to independent semantic progression. For example, English "stove", from which "sutōbu" (ストーブ) derived, has multiple meanings. Americans often use the word to mean a cooking appliance, and are thus surprised when Japanese take it to mean a space heater (such as a wood-burning stove). The Japanese term for a cooking stove is another "gairaigo" term, "renji" (レンジ), from English "range"—a gas stove is a "gasurenji" (ガスレンジ).

Additionally, Japanese combines words in ways that are uncommon in English. As an example, "left over" is a baseball term for a hit that goes over the left-fielder's head, rather than uneaten food saved for a later meal. This is a term that appears to be a loan but is actually wasei-eigo, literally, "English made in Japan."

It is sometimes also difficult for learners of Japanese to distinguish between "gairaigo", giseigo (onomatopoeia), and gitaigo (ideophones: words that represent the manner of an action, like "zigzag" in English — "jiguzagu" in Japanese), which are also written in katakana.

Gairaigo as a built-in lexicon of English

The English words that are borrowed into Japanese include many of the most useful English words, including high-frequency vocabulary and academic vocabulary. Thus "gairaigo" may constitute a useful built-in lexicon for Japanese learners of English.

"Gairaigo" have been observed to aid a Japanese child’s learning of ESL vocabulary. With adults, "gairaigo" assist in: English word aural recognition and pronunciation; spelling; listening comprehension; retention of spoken and written English; and recognition and recall at especially higher levels of vocabulary. Moreover, in their written production, Japanese learners prefer using English words that have become "gairaigo" over those that have not.

Gairaigo misconceptions

Coincidentally, the word (Japanese for "thank you") sounds somewhat like the Portuguese word "obrigado", which has the same meaning. Given the number of borrowings from Portuguese, it may seem reasonable to suppose that the Japanese imported that word—which is the explanation accepted and indeed published by many. However, "arigatō" is not a "gairaigo"; rather, it is a form of the native Japanese adjective "arigatai" (有難い) combined with the polite verb "gozaimasu". Evidence that the word "arigatai" was in use several centuries before contact with the Portuguese exists, for example, in the Man'yōshū. This makes the two terms false cognates.

See the list of Japanese terms mistaken for gairaigo for more examples.

Reborrowings from Japanese

Some "gairaigo" words have been reborrowed into their original source languages, particularly in the jargon of fans of Japanese entertainment. For example, "anime" (アニメ) is gairaigo derived from the English word for "animation", but has been reborrowed by English with the meaning of "animation in the Japanese style". Similarly, "puroresu" (プロレス) derives from "professional wrestling", and has been adopted by English-speaking wrestling fans as a term for the style of pro wrestling performed in Japan. "Kosupure", or "cosplay," was formed from the English words "costume play", referring to dressing in costumes such as those of anime, manga, or videogame characters, and is now used with enthusiasm in English and other languages.

References

* [http://www.sljfaq.org/w/Arigat%C5%8D sci.lang.japan FAQ's entry on arigatō] .

See also

* List of gairaigo and wasei-eigo terms
** Japanese words of Portuguese origin
** Japanese words of Dutch origin
* Engrish

External links

* [http://外来語.com 外来語]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/wa/yakineko/gairai.html Japanese Loanwords & English Vocabulary Acquisition]