tasuki
先輩
- 22 Apr 2003
- 349
- 4
- 28
... or are we witnessing the first stages of the birth of a new language?
Why, will you say, do you ask? Simply because a comment from one of my Japanese coworkers got me to thinking. The comment went something along the lines of him reading an article about a hi-tech product in development and not understanding the article because of all the katakana words in it. As we deal with hi-tech Japanese everyday in our jobs, needless to say that his comment surprised me very much. So I stopped myself to think about all the people who may not be up to date on all the GAIRAIGO (foreign words incorporated to Japanese) who read the news, watch the news, or simply watch TV or read ads for brand name products. How well do they understand all this GAIRAIGO mumbo-jumbo? Personally, I have trouble keeping up despite the fact that I can guess the meaning of the GAIRAIGO by "translating" it back to its original language in most cases.
Which leads me back to the point of my post. Is Japanese evolving into a hybrid language of Japanized foreign words or is it dying?
Why, will you say, do you ask? Simply because a comment from one of my Japanese coworkers got me to thinking. The comment went something along the lines of him reading an article about a hi-tech product in development and not understanding the article because of all the katakana words in it. As we deal with hi-tech Japanese everyday in our jobs, needless to say that his comment surprised me very much. So I stopped myself to think about all the people who may not be up to date on all the GAIRAIGO (foreign words incorporated to Japanese) who read the news, watch the news, or simply watch TV or read ads for brand name products. How well do they understand all this GAIRAIGO mumbo-jumbo? Personally, I have trouble keeping up despite the fact that I can guess the meaning of the GAIRAIGO by "translating" it back to its original language in most cases.
Which leads me back to the point of my post. Is Japanese evolving into a hybrid language of Japanized foreign words or is it dying?