japanese being englishized

[Yan]

I like English language but I don't like when we use English words or sentences in other languages. I hope Japan will never become like Montreal. Montrealers cannot say two sentences without saying a English word and now they are turning more English than French...

 

[orochi]

Languages were made to be blended. Deal with it.
Japanese was certainly helped by the introduction of Chinese characters and words.

 

[Emoni]

Languages were made to be blended. Deal with it.
Japanese was certainly helped by the introduction of Chinese characters and words.

Imagine a 1600 years ago around when Chinese characters were first implemented. What if an article or push like this showed up then. Now look at the language.

Oh yea... that's right, that wouldn't even be possible now would it. That darn "writing system thing."

One thing to keep in mind is that with each push against the introduction of new foreign words comes with a rejection of the idea and concept of the word as well. Not a good thing usually...

 

[Kirakira1232]

As much as governments *try* to control and regulate language, it will still change regardless. Words will come and go throughout the generations and I dont think any of us can really do anything to really stop it. We can rail and fight all we like but a dead language is a language that never changes.

We can lament the death of certain words or the introduction of words like Ashikaga-kun's annoyance with コラボ and In Australia we're seeing the death of our very own slang in the younger generation now being replaced by a lot of American slang.

Is it sad? Yeah it sure is. Can we do much to stop it? Probably not.

 

[moofs]

The fact that I was able to act as a Chinese<->Japanese<->English translator with my very poor Japanese, but very extensive gairaigo vocabulary, I was able to get my messages across perfectly. 70% of the words I used when I spoke Japanese was gairaigo. OK, maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but nonetheless saved my behind. I was just helping my friend who had visitors from Japan, so it wasn't something too official anyway. If I stumbled onto a concept I didn't know how to express in Japanese, (katakana) English was there to save the day! It's hit or miss when I speak with my Japanese friends and they use gairaigo. Darn Engrish!

The only language that hasn't really changed is Chinese (characters being simplified is a tragedy though, in my opinion). Too many times have I seen Latin or French or German words being used so casually in English (mainly in prose, journalism, etc). Though they are words that have been incorporated into the English language, sometimes I have no idea what is being said.