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Where do Japanese Kanji and words come from?

Muz1234

Sempai
13 Aug 2014
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I know the Japanese borrowed Kanji from the Chinese, but did they borrow the words from Chinese as well?
 
The same reason banks lend money - interest.
The Japanese paid back all the words they borrowed plus many new ones like kamikaze, sushi, geisha as an interest.
Don't underestimate foresight of the Chinese.
Paid back as some sort of tribute money? I assume that occurred some hundred years ago?
 
At the risk of ruining the joke, people are just being silly with you. (In part because it's something of an obvious question, hence the link to Wikipedia. The answer to this question is easily researched.)

Anyhow, the simple truth is that almost all languages borrow words from other languages. English, for example, has borrowed countless words (and parts of words) from French, German, Greek, Latin, etc.

Nobody needs "permission" to borrow from any other language. Nobody says "We would like to borrow words from your language. Is this acceptable?" It is simply an organic process, and part of how almost all languages evolve. Languages do not exist in a vacuum.
 
Muz1234, I suspect you are correct in highlighting my use of "qualms" because it was not a good choice.

I was just wondering what you might have read in that Wikipedia piece that caused you some doubt, or such like that.

"Qualm" is a tad bit of a harsh choice for this sort of topic.
 
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