Wasei-eigo (和製英語, literally "Made-in-Japan English") are Japanese pseudo-Anglicisms: English constructions not in use in Anglophone countries or by English native speakers, but appear in Japanese. A more general term for made-in-Japan foreign words is wasei-gairaigo, which usually applies to words made from European languages.
The term "Japanese English" (ジャパニーズ・イングリッシュ Japanīzu Ingurisshu) has become the common moniker for these words inside of Japan, meaning that some people are aware that they are terms used only as Japanese vernacular. Indeed, despite the fact that the term "Japanese English" implies these words are English,[citation needed] they are actually Japanese words that happen to derive from English.[citation needed] Nevertheless, the Japanese have difficulty in the distinction between these words and true Anglophonic English, as a survey conducted in August 2007 demonstrated[1].
Wasei-eigo words can form compounds with Japanese words. One of the most well-known such words is karaoke, combining kara, meaning empty, and oke, short for orchestra. Another example is okushon (億ション), combining oku, meaning hundred million, with the final syllable of mansion to form a new word meaning "luxury condominium". This is also a pun on the fact that in Japanese man means ten thousand, thereby suggesting an oku-shon is ten thousand times more valuable than a man-shon.
Sometimes, two English words with their normal meanings will be combined to form a new compound word. One famous instance is famicom (ファミコン famikon), a portmanteau of "family" and "computer", meaning a video game system, especially, but not necessarily, the Famicom, known to the rest of the world as the Nintendo Entertainment System and more generically as a "TV game" in Japan.
Some wasei-eigo have in turn been borrowed as pseudo-Anglicisms in other countries. For example, 아파트 apateu/ap'at'ŭ in Korean is borrowed from the Japanese word apāto, meaning apartment.[citation needed]
For an extensive list of terms, see the List of Gairaigo and Wasei-eigo terms.
See also
References
Laura Miller. 1997 "Wasei eigo: English ‘loanwords' coined in Japan." In The Life of Language: Papers in Linguistics in Honor of William Bright, edited by Jane Hill, P.J. Mistry and Lyle Campbell, Mouton/De Gruyter: The Hague, pp. 123-139. http://books.google.com/books?id=28wDbfPg7QsC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=wasei+eigo+Miller&source=bl&ots=ZaaOKLpSaR&sig=8rnwQNr-ZhCjjUOcin1VCpSAmNo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result
- ^ "English words, but Japanese meanings" (html). What Japan Thinks. September 24 2007. http://whatjapanthinks.com/2007/09/24/english-words-but-japanese-meanings/. Retrieved September 27 2007.
External links
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