Made-in-Japan....

[akatsuka]

Wasei-eigo/gairaigo/loanwords... theres tons of foreign language words in the Japanese language, apparently 7000 of them are English and increasing each year.

Some examples of wasei-eigo:
Catch phone = callwaiting
nighter = night game of baseball
delivery health = call girl/prostitute
skinship = bonding (particular mother-baby relationship)

Some examples of gairaigo:
pasokon = personal computer
rimokon = remote control
super = supermarket
Jipan = jeans

etcetc

What I want to ask is...
--What do you think of these words?/Do you use them or prefer to use the Japanese (if available or known)?
--Do you think they are a barrier to communication?
--Do you think they are destroying the Japanese language or merely a new form of Japanese?
--What do you think of Japanese people who constantly use these words?
--Do you consider them 'cool' or 'geeky' or just 'easier than learning japanese'?

Thanks

[Iraira]

This topic has been discussed before, but I've got a little time now to preach, so sit back and receive the word.

Japan has long been a culture/society that while priding itself on its homogeneity has absorbed aspects of many other cultures (mainly China). That nugget gets twisted, mutated, etc., into a pallatable Japanese form, which gets entrenched as "a unique element" of Japan and Japanese society.
Language drives social evolution, both conscious and unconscious social evolution. Instead of forcing stasis of language (such as in other more "Quiche"-ladden countries), the Japanese language freely incorporates parts of other languages (usually English-based) to fit many needs: business, social, etc. English is very similar, particularly American English, although, American English tends to incorporate new words/concepts generated from within (see the new horror movie: when white boys think they are black).
Not really sure about British, Aussie, and Canadian English, since theyare completely incomprehensible to me.

To be honest, not sure about anything I just wrote. Use it in your term paper without citing my shit, and I guarantee that you will never be able to escape the plagarism charges...kiss your appointment to teh Supreme Court goodbye.

[GomiGirl]

From my point of view as somebody who works on dictionaries daily, languages are a moving target. They change, they evolve and there are purists who might dislike this but it is an inevitability.

We no longer speak English in the language of Chaucer and Shakespeare - it is interesting to read now but I am pleased we don't speak this way.

Japanese is no different. It will change and grow. I say embrace it and buy new dictionaries to keep up.

[Dragonette]

[Number11]

I like it. I think it keeps the language fresh and there is always something new to learn and use. I like Japanese shortened words even more. As far as people using them all the time, some of them have no substitutes that would be more recognizable.

I use them, and I'm old. If you're under 50 and have fits about these already, you're probably going to be unbearable (and lonely) when you get to be an old fart.

[Gilligan]

In general, my personal view is similar to the views expressed by Iraira and GG--language is not unlike a living organism with any and every aspect of it (lexicon, pronunication, syntax) being likely to change over time. Fighting against language change is as effective and useful as trying to hold back the tides.

However, I will not deny that the way some specific English expressions are used in Japan really does make my skin crawl.

[kusai Jijii]

[GuyJean]

.. nighter = night game of baseball..

Baseball has so many that annoy me:

auto kona outside corner
chu center fielder
dasha batter]
homu-ran home run
in kona inside corner
naita night game
sado third (base); third baseman
sekando second (base); second baseman
shoto shortstop
suribesu triple (literally, three-base hit)
from here..

Others in the technical field can get confusing:

pin mic = lapel mic
VTR = VCR
etc..

But some I like, but at the moment I can only think of two:

Doctor Stop = TKO (Techinical Knock Out in boxing. Or TKO by doctor)
Dead Ball = Hit by Pitch in baseball

GJ

[Gilligan]

Baseball has so many that annoy me:

GJ

You (and they) left out the one that annoys me the most--taimuri hitto for a hit that drives in a run. If the score is already 10-2, what makes the next run scoring hit so timely?

[GuyJean]

.. If the score is already 10-2, what makes the next run scoring hit so timely?

ha, ha.. so true.

There are quite a few Engrish-loaners that, in English, mean something very different than what the Japanese think they do. Unfortunately, I can't recall any examples right now.. But I'll be back.

GJ

[kusai Jijii]

Baseball has so many that annoy me:

Japanese baseball annoys me. Period.