gairaigo

is Japanese for "loan word", and indicates a transcription into Japanese. In particular, the word usually refers to a Japanese word of foreign origin that was not borrowed in ancient times from Old or Middle Chinese (especially Literary Chinese), but in modern times, primarily from English, Portuguese, Dutch, and modern Chinese dialects, such as Standard Chinese and Cantonese. These are primarily written in the katakana phonetic script, with a few older terms written in Chinese characters (kanji); the latter are known as ateji.

Japanese has many loan words from Chinese, accounting for a sizeable fraction of the language. These words were borrowed during ancient times and are written in ''kanji''. Modern Chinese loanwords are generally considered ''gairaigo'' and written in ''katakana'', or sometimes written in ''kanji'' (either with the more familiar word as a base text gloss and the intended ''katakana'' as furigana or vice versa); pronunciation of modern Chinese loanwords generally differs from the corresponding usual pronunciation of the characters in Japanese.

For a list of terms, see the List of gairaigo and wasei-eigo terms.

Source languages

Japanese has a long history of borrowing from foreign languages. It has been doing so since the late fourth century A.D. Some ancient ''gairaigo'' words are still being used nowadays, but there are also many kinds of ''gairaigo'' words that were borrowed more recently.

Most, but not all, modern ''gairaigo'' are derived from English, particularly in the post-World War II era (after 1945). Words are taken from English for concepts that do not exist in Japanese, but also for other reasons, such as a preference for English terms or fashionability – many ''gairaigo'' have Japanese near-synonyms.

In the past, more ''gairaigo'' came from other languages besides English. The first period of borrowing occurred during the late fourth century A.D., when a massive number of Chinese characters were adopted. This period could be considered one of the most significant in the history of ''gairaigo'', because it was the first moment when the written communication systems using ''kanji'' were formed.

The first non-Asian countries to have extensive contact with Japan were Portugal and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, and Japanese has several loanwords from Portuguese and Dutch, many of which are still used. The interaction between Japan and Portugal lasted from the late middle age until the early Edo era. (1549-1638). An example of the loanwords from Portuguese is ''rasha'', meaning a thick wool cloth that was indispensable during the period, but not used often nowadays. In the Edo era (1603–1853), words from the Dutch language, such as ''glas'', ''gas'', and ''alcohol'', started to have an impact in the Japanese language. Also, during the Edo era, many medical words like ''Gaze'' (meaning gauze) and ''neuroses'' came from German, and many artistic words such as ''rouge'' and ''dessin'' came from French. Most of the ''gairaigo'' since the nineteenth century came from English.

In the Meiji era (late 19th to early 20th century), Japan also had extensive contact with Germany, and gained many loanwords from German, particularly for Western medicine, which the Japanese learned from the Germans. Notable examples include (often abbreviated to ) from German ("work"), and from German ''Energie''. They also gained several loanwords from French at this time.

In modern times, there are some borrowings from Modern Chinese and Modern Korean, particularly for food names, and these continue as new foods become popular in Japan; standard examples include ''ūron'' (烏龍 ウーロン "oolong tea") and ''kimuchi'' (キムチ "kimchi"), respectively, while more specialized examples include ''hoikōrō'' ( 回鍋肉 ホイコーロー "twice cooked pork") from Chinese, and ''bibinba'' ( ビビンバ "bibimbap") from Korean. Chinese words are often represented with Chinese characters, but with ''katakana'' gloss to indicate the unusual pronunciation, while Korean words, which no longer regularly use Chinese characters (''hanja''), are represented in ''katakana''. There is sometimes ambiguity in pronunciation of these borrowings, particularly voicing, such as ''to'' (ト) vs. ''do'' (ド) – compare English's Daoism–Taoism romanization issue.

Some Modern Chinese borrowings occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries, due both to trade and resident Chinese in Nagasaki, and a more recent wave of Buddhist monks, the Ōbaku school, whose words are derived from languages spoken in Fujian. More recent Korean borrowings are influenced both by proximity, and to the substantial population of Koreans in Japan since the early 20th century.

In 1889, there were 85 ''gairaigo'' of Dutch origin and 72 ''gairaigo'' of English origin listed in a Japanese dictionary. From 1911 to 1924, 51% of ''gairaigo'' listed in dictionaries were of English origin, and today, 80% to 90% of ''gairaigo'' are of English origin.

There have been some borrowings from Sanskrit as well, most notably for religious terms. These words are generally transliterations which were unknowingly borrowed from Chinese.

Doublets

In some cases, doublets or etymologically related words from different languages may be borrowed and sometimes used synonymously or sometimes used distinctly.

The most common basic example is versus earlier , where they are used distinctly. A similar example is versus earlier ; thus is not redundant but means a drinking vessel specifically made of glass (e.g. as opposed to plastic). A more technical example is (English ''sorbitol'') versus (German Sorbit), used synonymously.

''Wasei-kango''

In addition to borrowings, which adopted both meaning and pronunciation, Japanese also has an extensive set of new words that are crafted using existing Chinese morphemes to express a foreign term. These are known as ''wasei-kango'' "Japanese-made Chinese words". This process is similar to the creation of classical compounds in European languages. Many were coined in the Meiji period, and these are very common in medical terminology. These are not considered ''gairaigo'', as the foreign word itself has not been borrowed, and sometimes a translation and a borrowing are both used.

Writing

In written Japanese, ''gairaigo'' are usually written in ''katakana''. Older loanwords are also often written using ''ateji'' (''kanji'' chosen for their phonetic value, or sometimes for meaning instead) or hiragana, for example ''tabako'' from Portuguese, meaning "tobacco" or "cigarette" can be written (''katakana''), (''hiragana''), or (the ''kanji'' for "smoke grass", but still pronounced ''tabako'' – an example of meaning-based ''ateji''), with no change in meaning. Another common older example is ''tempura,'' which is usually written in mixed ''kanji''/''kana'' ( mazegaki) as , but is also written as (rare kanji) or (common kanji) – here it is sound-based ''ateji,'' with the characters used for their phonetic values only.

Few ''gairaigo'' are sometimes written with a single ''kanji'' character (chosen for meaning or newly created); consequently, these are considered ''kun'yomi'' rather than ''ateji'' because the single characters are used for meaning rather than for sound and are often written as katakana. An example is ; see single-character loan words for details.

False friends and ''wasei-eigo''

There are numerous causes for confusion in ''gairaigo'': (1) ''gairaigo'' are often abbreviated, (2) their meaning may change (either in Japanese or in the original language after the borrowing has occurred), (3) many words are not borrowed but rather coined in Japanese (''wasei-eigo'' "English made in Japan"), and (4) not all ''gairaigo'' come from English.

Due to Japanese pronunciation rules and its mora-based phonology, many words take a significant amount of time to pronounce. For example, a one-syllable word in a language such as English (''brake'') 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 words. This also occurs with ''gairaigo'' words. For example, "remote control", when transcribed in Japanese, becomes ''rimōto kontorōru'' (), but this has then been simplified to ''rimokon'' (). For another example, the transcribed word for "department store" is ''depātomento sutoa'' () but has since been shortened to ''depāto'' (). Clipped compounds, such as ''wāpuro'' () for "word processor", are common. ''Karaoke'' (), a combination of the Japanese word ''kara'' "empty" and the clipped form, ''oke'', of the English loanword "orchestra" (J. ''ōkesutora'' ), is a clipped compound that has entered the English language. Japanese ordinarily takes the first part of a foreign word, but in some cases the second syllable is used instead; notable examples from English include and .

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 ''tēma'' (, from German ''Thema'', meaning "topic/theme") 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'' () is 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'' (), from the English "range"; a gas stove is a ''gasurenji'' ().

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''.

It is sometimes difficult for students of Japanese to distinguish among ''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.

''Wasei-eigo'' presents more difficulties for Japanese and learners of Japanese as such words, once entered the lexicon, combine to form any number of potentially confusing combinations. For example, the loanwords ''chance'', ''pink'', ''erotic'', ''over'', ''down'', ''up'', ''in'', ''my'', and ''boom'' have all entered ''wasei-eigo'' lexicon, combining with Japanese words and other English loanwords to produce any number of combination words and phrases. 'Up,' or ''appu'', is famously combined with other words to convey an increase, such as ''seiseki appu'' (increased results) and ''raifu appu'' (improved quality of life). 'My," or ''mai'', also regularly appears in advertisements for any number and genre of items. From "My Fanny" toilet paper to "My Hand" electric hand drills, ''mai'' serves as a common advertising tool. Infamously, the beverage brand Calpis sold a product regrettably named ''mai pisu'' or 'my piss' for a short time.

''Wasei-eigo'' is often employed to disguise or advertise risque or sexual terms and innuendos, especially when used by women. ''Wasei-eigo'' terms referencing a person's characteristics, personality, and habits also commonly appear as Japanese street slang, from ''poteto chippusu'' or 'potato chips' for a hick and ''esu efu'' 'SF' for a 'sex friend.'

Grammatical function

''Gairaigo'' are generally nouns, which can be subsequently used as verbs by adding auxiliary verb . For example, "play soccer" is translated as サッカーをする (sakkā o suru).

Some exceptions exist, such as , which conjugates as a normal Japanese verb – note the unusual use of ''katakana'' () followed by ''hiragana'' (). Another example is ''gugu-ru'' (ググる, "to google"), which conjugates as a normal Japanese verb, in which the final syllable is converted into ''okurigana'' to enable conjugation.

''Gairaigo'' function as do morphemes from other sources, and, in addition to ''wasei eigo'' (words or phrases from combining ''gairaigo''), ''gairaigo'' can combine with morphemes of Japanese or Chinese origin in words and phrases, as in (compare ), (compare ) or .

In set phrases, there is sometimes a preference to use all ''gairaigo'' (in ''katakana'') or all ''kango/wago'' (in ''kanji''), as in (''mansurii manshon'', monthly apartment) versus (''tsukigime chūshajō,'' monthly parking lot), but mixed phrases are common, and may be used interchangeably, as in (''tenanto boshū'') and (''nyūkyosha boshū''), both meaning "looking for a tenant".

Phonology

Borrowings traditionally have had pronunciations that conform to Japanese phonology and phonotactics. For example, ''platform'' was borrowed as /hōmu/, because */fo/ is not a sound combination that traditionally occurs in Japanese. However, in recent years, some ''gairaigo'' are pronounced more closely to their original sound, which is represented by non-traditional combinations of ''katakana'', generally using small ''katakana'' or diacritics (voicing marks) to indicate these non-traditional sounds. Compare and ''sumaho'' (スマホ, "smart phone"), where traditional sounds are used, and , a variant of the latter word using traditional sounds, where the non-traditional combination (fu-o) is used to represent the non-traditional sound combination /fo/. This leads to long words; e.g., the word for "fanfare" is spelled out as , with seven ''kana'', no shorter than the Roman alphabet original (it is possible that it was not loaned from English because the "e" is not silent).

Similarly, Japanese traditionally does not have any /v/ phoneme, instead approximating it with /b/, but today /v/ (normally realized ''not'' as v.html"_;"title="Voiced_labiodental_fricative.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Voiced_labiodental_fricative">v">Voiced_labiodental_fricative.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Voiced_labiodental_fricative">vbut_as_bilabial_[Voiced_bilabial_fricative.html" ;"title="Voiced_labiodental_fricative">v.html" ;"title="Voiced_labiodental_fricative.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Voiced labiodental fricative">v">Voiced_labiodental_fricative.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Voiced labiodental fricative">vbut as bilabial [Voiced bilabial fricative">β]) is sometimes used in pronunciations: for example, "violin" can be pronounced either or , with (literally "voiced u"+"a") representing /va/.

Another example of the Japanese transformation of English pronunciation is , in which the two-syllable word ''taxi'' becomes three syllables (and four morae, thanks to long ''ī'') because consonants don't occur consecutively in traditional Japanese (with the exception of the coda ん/ン or /n/), and in which the sound i("see") of English is pronounced ɕi.html" ;"title="Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_sibilant.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant">ɕi">Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_sibilant.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant">ɕi(which to monoglot English speakers will sound like "she") because /si/ in Japanese is realized as such.

This change in Japanese phonology following the introduction of foreign words (here primarily from English) can be compared to the earlier posited change in Japanese phonology following the introduction of Chinese loanwords, such as closed syllables (CVC, not just CV) and Length (phonetics), length becoming a phonetic feature with the development of both Vowel length, long vowels and Gemination, long consonants – see Early Middle Japanese#Developments, Early Middle Japanese: Phonological developments.

Due to the difficulties that Japanese have in Perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese speakers, distinguishing "l" and "r", this expansion of Japanese phonology has not extended to use of different ''kana'' for /l/ vs. /r/, though application of handakuten for representing /l/ has been proposed as early as Meiji era. Therefore, words with /l/ or /r/ may be spelled identically if borrowed into Japanese. One important exception is due to the fact that Japanese typically borrows English words in a non-rhotic fashion, so that syllable-final "-r" and "-l" can still be distinguished. For example, "bell" is ベル and "bear" is ベア, rather than both being ベル.

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, students of Japanese prefer using English words that have become ''gairaigo'' to those that have not.

Misconceptions

The word ''arigatō'' (Japanese for "thank you") sounds similar to 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 an abbreviation of ''arigatō gozaimasu'', which consists of an inflection of the native Japanese adjective ''arigatai'' () combined with the polite verb ''gozaimasu''. There is evidence, for example in the ''Man'yōshū'', that the word ''arigatai'' was in use several centuries before contact with the Portuguese. This makes the two terms false cognates. If the Portuguese word had been borrowed, it would most likely have taken the form オブリガド (''oburigado''), or maybe ''ōrigado'' (due to historical ''afu'' and ''ofu'' collapsing to ''ō''), and while it is even possible that it would be spelled with as ''ateji'', it would regardless start with ''o'' rather than ''a'', and the final ''o'' would have been short rather than long.

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'' () is ''gairaigo'' derived from the English word for "animation", but has been reborrowed by English with the meaning of "Japanese animation". Similarly, ''puroresu'' () 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 commonly used in English and other languages (also using Western cartoon realms).

There are also rare examples of borrowings from Indo-European languages, which have subsequently been borrowed by other Indo-European languages, thus yielding distant cognates. An example is , originally borrowed from Russian икра (''ikra''), and possibly distantly cognate (from the same Indo-European root) to English "roe" (fish eggs), though the only indication is the shared "r".

See also

* Cognate
* List of ''gairaigo'' and ''wasei-eigo'' terms
** Japanese words of Portuguese origin
** Japanese words of Dutch origin
* Engrish
* List of English words of Japanese origin
* Japanese Pidgin English

References

;Inline citations

;Sources
http://www.tsu.ac.jp/bulletin/bulletin/pdf/15/087-101.pdf
*Olah, Ben.
English Loanwords in Japanese: Effects, Attitudes and Usage as a Means of Improving Spoken English Ability
". Vol.9, No.1, pp.177-188, December 2007.
*"", .
Kotobank
', the Asahi Shimbun.
*

{{italic title

Japanese writing system terms
Japanese vocabulary