Gov't asked to replace 59 English terms with Japanese (They've Caught French Disease)

Japan Today ^ | April 27, 2003

[Timesink]

Gov't asked to replace 59 English terms with Japanese

Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 06:00 JST
TOKYO — The National Institute for Japanese Language proposed Friday that the government avoid using 59 English or English-like terms in their Japanese-language documents.

In its first completed report, the institute's panel listed the 59 terms which it had selected out of 62 samples it examined and offered Japanese-language expressions to replace them, except for "normalization," for which it failed to find a Japanese phrase.

The panel conducted a survey on public recognition of the sample terms and decided that only three — "impact," "care" and "day service" — were suitable for use in Japanese-language documents.

The 59 terms include "informed consent," "delivery," "second opinion," "barrier free" and "lifeline."

The panel compiled the final report after conducting the public recognition poll based on an interim report it issued in December on the 63 terms.

The panel, comprised of academics, translators and media representatives, plans to compile a second interim report in July on 58 more sample terms.

The institute is affiliated with the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry. (Kyodo News)

[HennepinPrisoner]

I wonder how many of you on this forum would go totally ape-sh!t if you surfed over to the congressional archive website and saw "Dis law be to give da peeps props." or "The presidente shall aparezca himself before this escritorio uno time in every mes..."

White House Espanol

[plusone]

Interesting. Technically, those examples are called gerunds. A verb acting like a noun. For example, the sentence 'Skiing is fun.' We normally think of skiing as a verb, you are doing an action. But in this sentence, skiing is a concept, which is a noun.

[Revolting cat!]

It's a losing fight and a circular argument because chauvinism and ignorance will always respond with, respectively, more chauvinism and ignorance.

That other countries and peoples have their own ideas about the role of the government and about their cultures is a radical idea around here. We like to knock Ho-wood, but you won't see more enthusiastic flag waving than when the news comes that some pipsqueak country is attempting to limit the invasion of Ho-wood's pornography. Besides, we like to hand the Left the argument that the Right is composed of philistines. Gotta learn to live with it. Hurray for Hollywood!

[plusone]

Unlike some other languages which are more structured, I think English was basically invented by accident, then reinvented again and again over the centuries. I have read up about its history a little, and it is fascinating.

[plusone]

We can blame the French for most of this. Middle english is similar to antique German or Dutch. That accounts for some of the spelling oddities. Take 'plough' (Americans spell it 'plow', as it should be based on its current pronunciation). Before the battle of Hastings in 1067, this word would have been pronounced as it is spelled. "Ploog-h" (sort of rhymes with tuba). After the French conquered England, they softened the pronunciation of many of these words, dropping the gutteral Germanic sounds. So we get these odd ball spelling vestiges. Interestingly, the noun 'plow'in Russian is pronounced 'ploog-h'. They've kept the older pronunciation.

[Arkinsaw]

I wonder how many of you on this forum would go totally ape-sh!t if you surfed over to the congressional archive website and saw "Dis law be to give da peeps props." or "The presidente shall aparezca himself before this escritorio uno time in every mes..."

Our language is made up of a ton of foreign words. We don't go apes*** over reconnaissance (French), blitzkrieg (German), calliope (Greek), Algebra (Arabic), Aardvark (Dutch), cafe (French/Italian/Turkish). Nor do we complain about New Orleans, Los Angeles, or Baton Rouge.

We don't go crazy when our government uses these things in documents either.

I'm pretty sick of the blustering about American "arrogance" when its really the other way around.

[GATOR NAVY]

My Japanese wife and I went to the Nagasaki zoo many years ago. I was rolling on the ground listening to her try and say "prairie dog".

[gcruse]

I can imagine.
Thanks for getting me to look up gator navy, BTW. I was in the
navy and never heard of it, but it looked like something you might call amphibs. Sure enough, and it's been called that so long you'd think every swabbie would know what it means. Well, I do, now. Thanks, chief!

[demosthenes the elder]

or "su-nu-go-ra-su"?

[Only1choice____Freedom]

That's my favorite Eric Clapner CD.

[Mortimer Snavely]

If you can find a copy, Japan's Modern Myth by Roy Andrew Miller is of great assistance in understanding the how and why of the influence of foreign words and phrases on the Japanese language and the Japanese reaction to them.

Try Good Day Books in Ebisu if you can't get it through Amazon.

[risk]

I can't resist: "rock and road" come to mind!

[Arkinsaw]

I can't resist: "rock and road" come to mind!

LOL, I actually had to ponder that for a moment.

[The Grammarian]

I love that website. (engrish.com, I mean.)

[GATOR NAVY]

The problem is that modern Japanese borrow English words and phrases which already have words in Japanese

A simple one that has always made me curious is the warning signs on the expressway. When it rains, they show a picture of an umbrella with the word suripu (slip[pery]). Now I know there must a perfectly good word in Japanese for "slippery", so why do they use English?

[handk]

Deck the hars with bars of har-ree,
Fa-ra ra ra ra, ra, ra ra,
'Tis the season to be jaw-ree,
Fa-ra ra ra ra, ra, ra ra.

[thedugal]

Our language is made up of a ton of foreign words.

All languages are, and for names and foreign inventions such as those you listed there is nothing wrong with it. But what happens in Japan is not comparible and if the same thing were happening in America, every conservative I know would be very angry. There are literally thousands of words being co-opted as slang and from slang into official diction. The problems are manifold, it isn't English, it's Jinglish which is incomprehensible to native English speakers and only a fraction of the Japanese public know what many of these adopted words mean.

I would think that all conservatives would understand the inherit danger in writing laws with words which do not even appear in a dictionary. In case you didn't know, Japanese is not written in Roman characters, so when they borrow a word it is botched and in many cases cannot be easily rewritten in English, so you couldn't even guarantee to find the word in an English dictionary.

I'm pretty sick of the blustering about American "arrogance" when its really the other way around.

Do honestly believe that The National Institute for Japanese Language is arrogant for proposing that the Japanese government use the Japanese words for "informed consent," "delivery," "second opinion," "barrier free" and "lifeline"?

[thedugal]

It is absurd to protest the enrichment of a language with foreign words that convey a concept not already captured by one word in the mother tongue.

Yeah, like "second opinion"! We all know those rock headed Japanese would never think of a concept such as a "second opinion", it's only natural they should adopt our phrase for the concept. </sarcasm> If you read you'll notice that they agreed to a number of terms which they believe fall into the category you suggest but reject those which clearly have Japanese equivalents.

[jejones]

What in the hell does speaking ones own language have to do with becoming "French"???????????

The French are among the best known for their campaigns for linguistic purity--and especially the expunging of English words from the language. It goes back at least to a 1954 book titled Parlez-vous Franglais?. A more recent book about the matter is titled Le Franglais: Forbidden English, Forbidden American Law, Politics and Language in Contemporary France: A Study in Loan Words and National Identity, which, to quote a review, "describes the attempt by French politicians to forbid by law the use of words of English and American origin."

[bluefish]

My Japanese prof mentioned a loan word that was a combination of English and German. IIRC, it was something like "Backshoen."

Back (English) = Back
Shoen (German) = Ugly.

I believe, somebody correct me if I am wrong and they know this word, that it refers to someone who looks good when you see them from the rear, but viewed from the front, they are ugly. I guess the you could employ our slang: "Nice a**!" followed by "Oh my gosh" when the complimentee turns around. Sorry for the crudeness, just trying to describe it. I don't think we have a word, even slang, for that!

Does anybody know if this is correct? It is one of the few things I can recall after struggling through Japanese for 4 years.