I recently went to Los Angeles to attend an event and I said to my American friend something in the line of “the guests are really high tension today” and she didn’t understand at all.
I’ve used ハイテンション or テンション高い so frequently that I didn’t realize I’ve forgotten the true meaning of tension in English.
Have you had a similar experience when you’ve used Japanglish/ waseieigo word and the meaning didn’t come across?
Edit: My first language is not English and the English I use is mainly with other foreigners.
33 comments
No.
No.
Not sure if this is in the same vein as what you meant but i said “Cospa” in one of my conversation and people are getting confused.
If i were to say “Cost Performance”, i think it’ll be less confusing, but i don’t remember using this word before moving to Japan like at all.
Not really. The only thing I can think of is conbini.
Whenever I try to use loan words in contexts closer to how I’d use them speaking English the meaning is lost usually
Same for me. I think it’s actually common (at least not rare) for people speaking mainly Japanese in Japan and for which English is not their native language.
That’s just how the brain works. If you don’t use it, you lose it.
Despite being a native English speaker and someone who scored high on the verbal parts of graduate admissions tests, some English words started looking or sounding strange to me, or I’d be grasping for the right word when I went back to English.
This was only after a couple years, and I know I’ve heard similar experiences from others, so it can definitely happen even with your native language after using another for a period of time, and fairly quickly.
It’s kind of the other way around but I use the word ナイーブ(naïve) in its English (or French?) meaning, but in Japanese naïve usually means sensitive.
No can’t say that I have
I remember forgetting Magikarp and could only say コイキング. I had to go back home and google the English name.
As you are not an English native speaker, I had a similar experience with my French and German, which I studied in high school. When I visited Europe and tried to remember those languages, they got totally mixed up with Japanese.
With English, I experienced one really strange phenomenon. In my mind, I swear that けち is a slang word you use in English for a cheapskate. I understand that it’s Japanese, but somewhere deep in my brain, the wires much have become crossed.
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Not me, but it’s a common thing to happen.
For anyone concerned about this linguistic phenomenon, here are some things that might alleviate it:
– Learn to speak more than 2 languages, to widen your POV
– Diversify your usage of the affected languages: read books including nonfiction (usual suspect), listen to podcasts, talk to people, write something
– Having early learning stages of two languages overlap can have them interfere like this, but this one isn’t too actionable because even with this, learning two languages is a net positive
– Don’t worry too much about it unless you are a translator or language teacher, or your job somehow involves being correct in your use of language
I keep forgetting the names of foodstuff (genuinely said awabi in a sentence without even realizing it!)
English is also not my first language and sometimes I know the Japanese word but I forget the English word. You’re not alone!
I was talking about Christmas illuminations back in the US and I was corrected. I seriously didn’t think it was Japanese English. I’m supposed to say Christmas lights apparently?
I often notice grammar-related Japanisms in my speech after the fact. They do not make me misunderstand, but I would never use the grammar in that way without knowing the Japanese.
I had trouble remembering words in in English before coming to Japan though. :/
Hopefully not a Hilaria Baldwin moment 
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But I will say that years in the UK and US has made my wife’s Japanese very rusty (she is native Japanese). And her ability to use 丁寧語 is almost absent. It is funny as her ability to put up with Japanese bureaucracy BS is completely gone which leads some interesting conflicts.
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On the flip side, I must be exercising the language part of my brain as my Spanish has gotten better in Japan after atrophying from years of disuse.
Yes, that’s normal. I don’t have it to that extent but I often have moments where I’m conversing in English and I can’t think of a word in English but can think of the Japanese equivalent and I have to stop to think of the word in English.
Oh man, same for me. I’ve used スマート to describe someone of a slim figure while residing in the States. I think people understood only because I was using hand gestures.
No, never
I accidentally use the word mansion for apartment sometimes, that’s about it
Tension is high is a negative . Meaning there’s a high strung atmosphere
I often do stupid stuff like write し instead of J
Not really, but I have the benefit of living with another native English speaker and talking with friends and family back home several times a week. I chat in English with online friends every day too. I use primarily Japanese at work every day.
Something like this does sort of happen though when I’m switching from talking in Japanese for a long time or switching between languages quickly. It’s more that my brain stutters and I feel like I’m not talking naturally in my native English. But it’s only temporary.
I won’t forget words, but sometimes a single concise Japanese word that describes the situation perfectly pops up in my head and I’ll find myself “translating” that word on the fly.
Like, I’m not saying you can’t say なつかしい in English, but you also can’t go around shouting “nostalgic!” without sounding weird, and “that takes me back” is a lot more words (but one less syllable now that I think about it)
I have mixed L and R in English maybe 3x in my life ever since living in Japan and speaking predominantly Japanese and would say things like “use your big voice” or “coconut water tastes raw.” English is not my native language either.
Speaking 3 languages and delving into 2 others have given me a unique accent, too, in English. Most Americans say I sound American but they can’t place my accent exactly.
I got used to saying corona and only realized the rest of the world said Covid when I visited back
coffee is one of my hobbies, and most of what I know about coffee I learned from japanese baristas. i said hand drip instead of pour over to my mom and she had no idea what I was talked about at first until I corrected myself. we had a good laugh about it
(disclaimer, I don’t know if other english speaking countries use hand drip coffee, I’m just sharing my own experience, coffee experts please don’t jump me)
When I was in the states even though I meant to say “take a shower”, In my head I translated from “Ofuro ni hairu” and said “take a bath” and it confused the person I was talking to as they thought i was actually gonna have a soak
My English has been slowly deteriorating over the last decade, probably due to so few interactions with native speakers. It’s becoming difficult keeping up with conversations with natives or finding the right words. I find it much easier to take the time to think about it and reply with a written message.
Plus, since my spoken vocabulary cut-off was in my early 20s, I lacked a lot of English learning as/around adult speakers. I often find it difficult to find a fitting word. And I am so used to simplifying/structuring my sentences for friends and colleagues that it has changed the way I speak a lot. So although I have a very technical and developed career and am generally a social person, my spoken English sounds little better than a young adult’s.
It’s a little embarrassing and I wonder if there must be many others who suffer from this problem.
The only time I could think of was when someone said they were mixed race and I was like ah you’re hafu… They were like whaaaat!?!?!