Gairaigo
Gairaigo (外来語) is
Japanese for "
loan word" or "borrowed word", and indicates a
transliteration (or "transvocalization") into Japanese. In particular, the word usually refers to a Japanese word of foreign origin that was not borrowed from
Chinese. Japanese also has a huge number of
loan words from Chinese, accounting for a sizeable fraction of the language. These words were borrowed during ancient times. Modern Chinese loanwords are generally considered
gairaigo and written in
katakana.
Most, but not all, modern
gairaigo are derived from
English. Words are taken from English for concepts which do not exist in Japanese, but also for other reasons, such as a preference for English terms or fashionability.
In the past, more
gairaigo came from other languages besides English. The first non-Asian countries to have extensive contact with Japan were
Holland and
Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries, and Japanese has several
loanwords from Portuguese and
Dutch, many of which are still used in Japan today.
In the
Meiji era, Japan also had extensive contact with Germany, and gained many
loanwords from German, in particular for medicine, which the Japanese learnt from the Germans. They also gained several
loanwords from French at this time.
In
written Japanese,
gairaigo are almost exclusively written in
katakana, but not always. Older loanwords are also often written using
ateji (
kanji chosen for their phonetic value) or
hiragana, for example
tabako from Portuguese, meaning "tobacco" or "cigarette" can be written タバコ (
katakana), たば" (
hiragana), or 煙草 (
kanji), with no change in meaning.
For a list of terms, see the
List of Gairaigo and Wasei-eigo terms.
Due to Japanese pronunciation rules and its
mora-based phonology, many words when spoken in their entirety take a significant amount of time to pronounce. For example, a one-syllable word in a language such as English (
break) often becomes several syllables when pronounced in Japanese (in this case,
bur"ki, which amounts to four moras). The Japanese language therefore contains many
abbreviated and contracted words, and there is a strong tendency to shorten and simplify words. This also takes place with
gairaigo words. For example "remote control", when
transcribed to Japanese, becomes
rimooto kontororu, but this has then been simplified to
rimokon. For another example,
depāto = department store.
Portmanteaus, such as
wāpuro for "word processor", are common.
Karaoke, a combination of the Japanese word
kara (meaning
empty) and the clipped form
oke of the English loanword "orchestra" (J.
ōkesutora), is a portmanteau that has entered the English language. Ordinarily, Japanese takes the first part of a foreign word, but from the English words "flannel" and "blanket" they took the second syllables, to form the
gairaigo neru and
ketto.
Some Japanese people are not aware of the origins of the words in their language, and may assume that all gairaigo words are legitimate English words. For example, Japanese people may use words like
teema (from German
Thema, meaning "topic") in English, or
rimokon, not realising that the contraction of "remote control" to
rimokon took place in Japan.
Similarly,
gairaigo, while making Japanese easier to learn for foreign students in some cases, can also cause problems due to independent
semantic progression. For example,
sutōbu (ストーブ) from the English "stove" has multiple meanings in English. Americans often use the word to mean a cooking appliance, and are thus surprised when Japanese take it to mean a space heater (such as a wood-burning stove). The Japanese term for a cooking stove is another
gairaigo term,
renji (レンジ), from English "range"—a gas stove is a
gasurenji (ガスレンジ).
Additionally, Japanese combines words in ways that are uncommon in English. As an example,
left over is a
baseball term for a hit that goes over the left-fielder's head, rather than uneaten food saved for a later meal. This is a term that appears to be a loan but is actually
wasei-eigo, literally, "English made in Japan."
It is sometimes also difficult for learners of
Japanese to distinguish between
gairaigo and two categories of
onomatopoeia,
giseigo (true onomatopoeia) and
gitaigo (words that represent the manner of an action, like "zigzag" in
English "
jiguzagu in Japanese), which are also written in
katakana.
One gairaigo misconception
Coincidentally, the word
arigatō (有り難う or ありがとう, Japanese for "thank you") sounds somewhat like the Portuguese word
obrigado, which has the same meaning. Given the number of borrowings from Portuguese, it may seem reasonable to suppose that the Japanese imported that word—which is the explanation accepted and indeed published by many. However,
arigatō is not a
gairaigo; rather, it is a form of the native
Japanese adjective arigatai (有難い) combined with the
polite verb gozaimasu. Evidence that the word
arigatai was in use several centuries before contact with the Portuguese exists, for example, in the
manyoshu. This makes the two terms
false cognates.
See also
sci.lang.japan FAQ's entry on arigatō.
Some
gairaigo words have been reborrowed into their original source languages, particularly in the jargon of fans of Japanese entertainment. For example,
anime (アニメ) is gairaigo derived from the English word for "
animation", but has been reborrowed by English with the meaning of "animation in the Japanese style". Similarly,
puroresu (プロレス) derives from "
professional wrestling", and has been adopted by English-speaking wrestling fans as a term for the style of pro wrestling performed in Japan.
kosupure, or
cosplay, was formed from the English words "costume play", referring to dressing in costumes such as those of anime,
manga, or videogame characters, and is now used with enthusiasm in English and other languages.
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