Not sure which is better

thesuker

先輩

20 May 2014

242

3

• 20 Nov 2014

• #1

When referring to a western-style living-room, which would be normally used by a native Japanese person? リビング or いま? (both appear on Erin's 'at home' vocabulary section as living-room)

 

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Twenty-year veteran

15 Mar 2002

16,758

2,298

• 20 Nov 2014

• #2

That the language borrowed a word from a western language should provide a good basis for a strong assumption....

 

thesuker

先輩

20 May 2014

242

3

• 20 Nov 2014

• Thread starter
• #3

OK, I'll strongly assume リビング is used then. Here in Spain many English words have been borrowed to describe certain 'modern' activities, such as 'running', 'spinning', 'stepping' and such, and their use is considered a bit snobbish. Just wanted to make sure it's not the same case in Japanese.

 

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Twenty-year veteran

15 Mar 2002

16,758

2,298

• 20 Nov 2014

• #4

thesuker said:

OK, I'll strongly assume リビング is used then. Here in Spain many English words have been borrowed to describe certain 'modern' activities, such as 'running', 'spinning', 'stepping' and such, and their use is considered a bit snobbish. Just wanted to make sure it's not the same case in Japanese.

Click to expand...

Not always necessarily snobbish so much as "trendy", but yes we do have the same phenomenon here.

Borrowed words (外来語 ) too often turn out to be false friends to the foreigner in Japan, as they may be used with very different meanings than in the original language. So you can have a Japanese speaker and a foreigner talking together and using a word they're sure the other will understand...and actually be totally misunderstanding eacb other.

 

thesuker

先輩

20 May 2014

242

3

• 20 Nov 2014

• Thread starter
• #5

Thanks for the explanation, it's been very helpful.