Are loanwords a threat to the Japanese language?

12 comments

1. English is 80% loanwords. I guess it’s done for. Do you know their roots??

   As a loanword, the word is Japanese and at times doesn’t even mean the same thing as the word from the source language. So be careful about calling the English pronunciation the “correct” pronunciation, because the word is *not* English and if you say the English word of course you won’t be understood.

   Be careful not to tell any Spanish friends that you’re *embarrasado* that you can’t roll your r’s.

2. > use the correct pronunciation

   Loanwords change pronunciation in *every* language. If you speak French you really should not pronounce ‘shampooing’ as if it were an English word.

   Additionally, that statistic tracks what words are in the language *at all*, regardless of how specialized or commonly used they are. A good deal for example will be programming vocabulary that is not super common in everyday speech.

   Number 3, regardless of the percentage of loanwords, the grammar isn’t showing any signs of changing. English itself has a lot of loanwords especially from Old French, Latin, and Greek (though these may be comparable to Kango than gairaigo). Many of these words have also taken on different meanings from the English (‘manshon’ for instance), just as ‘sake’ (‘alcoholic beverage’ in Japanese, ‘a kind of Japanese rice wine’ in English) and ‘katana’ (‘a single-edged sword’ in Japanese, ‘a kind of Japanese single-edged sword’ in English) have in English.

   Also, even for English speakers, don’t they learn the word ‘elevator’ *before* ‘elevate’ anyway? Where I am they’re called lifts, but from TV I knew ‘elevator’ first anyway, and even knowing both it took me a while to make the connection as a child.

3. This is always such a stupid topic because no one ever consciously ‘decides’ to add loan words to a language. Loan words come into a language naturally. If you don’t want to use them yourself then don’t use them.

4. I mean hey, if I was taught that エレベータ was the proper word for it in Japanese, I ain’t complaining.

   Usually if it has to do with verbs, there would be a literal way of saying it. It’s almost better since it shortens it in a way. Like, “to elevate” in this context would be 上がる (I think). So an elevator could be literally translated to 上がる箱 or 上がる部屋 (A box/room that elevates).

   I can understand that it would make some people sad though since it just takes away the cultural value if you’d call it that. At the end of the day, probably every language has borrowed words at this point.

5. Isn’t Japanese already like 70% Chinese loanwords?

   edit: just read the article and it said 49% nvm… BUT THE POINT STILL STANDS!! Japaneae has always taken lots and lots of words from other languages so it will be fine. Usually the added vocabulary has a different connotation to the existing Japanese words, so its not like they’re just saying something they already have a word for.

6. I don’t even know where words in my native language came from. Is it a threat to the language?

7. My theory is that over the course of a few hundred years, all major languages will coalesce into one. I think it’s kinda inevitable just as western business clothes seems to be the norm around the world now, as is coca-cola and emojis and sports and phrases like ‘OK’.

   The world of widely varying cultures is slowly dying. It’s sad to think about since I love the diversity of cultures. But this is an interconnected world now. Merging can’t be stopped. Appreciate what we have cuz it won’t last long.

8. I highly doubt Japanese will become just a plain old bastardized form of English.

   It’s pretty much a reality for a language like Tagalog already though, where one does not merely speak in the pure language of the land without switching in and out of English both in terms of vocabulary and grammar; and you’ll sound like a weirdo if you insist on purging your own speech of the English elements that have already been around for decades. Funnily enough, before I left the Philippines, this weirdness by way of linguistic purism presented itself most not in formal news broadcasts (though those were a close second to my young ears), but anime dubs, especially of battle shōnen.

   All things considered, I still have hope it won’t get as bad as Tagalog.

9. Your post and especially your edit is just straight up r/badlinguistics.

   French and English are related, but the words English imported from French aren’t from common Indo-European stock, they’re clearly recognisable as Latin-based words.

   And Chinese has no common roots with Japanese except cultural history, the languages are genetically completely unrelated.

10. Sure makes learning Japanese easier, I’ll say that much

11. If you want a word for “elevator” where you can guess the meaning, you can use 昇降機.

12. I think it’s great to actively incorporate good things from abroad.
    Products and foods introduced from abroad need to rely on foreign languages.

    However, in Japan these days, there is a tendency to forcibly use foreign words.

    What I’m concerned about is that foreign words may be used in incorrect ways and that the original Japanese will be lost.