Quote:
Originally Posted by bsla
Sorry, I can't remember any examples right now, but it could be that I was mistaking Gairaigo, these 'borrowed' words for truly english words. Must be that while I watch animes I tend to notice a familiar, though more or less modified, word in the sea of japanese and I attribute that modification to accent or incorrect pronunciation on character's part. Though there are probably also literal english words in use for reasons you've mentioned.
|
Japanese actually is similar to English in that it freely grabs and incorporates words - even if there already exists a word. Its simply good variety and diversity. If you study the language, you'll learn that a fair number of words are actually Portuguese in origin as well as a few other languages. English terms got a wedge in during the occupation period after WW2 and the Japanese still think American culture is "cool" and love to sprinkle phrases in (whether they actually fit well or not). Its most common for imported items to arrive with their foreign names.
English is a hodge-podge of borrowed, stolen, and blenderized words reflecting Latin and Anglo-Saxon roots buried under a dozen other fly-by language lootings. Almost any native english speaker knows what you mean by "tsunami", "arigato". "konnichiwa", etc. Try counting the number of French words in the English language. English has dozens of ways to say the same thing... at least Japanese remains a bit simpler in that regard (maybe a dozen
).