Words brought into Japanese from languages other than Chinese.
8
votes
4answers
467 views
What changes are made to the pronunciation of gairaigo?
What changes are usually made to the pronounciation of gairaigo?
I notice that vowels are often added between multiple consonants and to the end of words (eg "programmer" => "puroguramaa" (プログラマー)), ...
7
votes
5answers
353 views
Less-approximate and more-approximate forms of loan words
When Japanese incorporates a Western word, especially English, often the spelling rather than the pronunciation is respected in the transcription, thus, ending up with a transcription that is not the ...
15
votes
4answers
580 views
Since Japanese already had several words for rice why was “ライス” (raisu) borrowed from English?
Last night I had dinner in a ramen restaurant in northern Japan and was surprised to read the katakana "ライス" (raisu) on the menu. This is obviously the English word "rice" borrowed. But what kind of ...
7
votes
6answers
289 views
Different transcriptions for words with related origin
Sometimes, a single foreign word or etymologically related words from different dialects/related languages is/are incorporated into Japanese with different transcriptions/pronouncations and often ...
13
votes
4answers
585 views
Are wasei-eigo and wasei-kango looked down upon?
Is wasei-eigo or wasei-kango looked down upon by Japanese language purists (as opposed to English or Chinese purists!) as informal, inauthentic, incorrect or the like?
12
votes
2answers
378 views
What is the more common pronunciation for the romaji letter 'Z' in Japanese?
I was on the phone with NTT the other day and things were going well (or as good as they could), until I had to spell some email address for the customer rep, and fell upon the letter 'Z'.
...
11
votes
5answers
135 views
ユーザ or ユーザー, which is more in use or is there no difference?
ユーザ or ユーザー, which is more in use or is there no difference?
I see both of them in use, but is there one that is more correct than the other or is at least the prevailing standard?
a similar word is ...
5
votes
3answers
173 views
Is タオル used for the towels used at onsen?
onsenjapan.net claims that タオル is used for "towel", presumably the large one. When I asked a staff member at Odeo onsen "これ は 何 ですか?" while indicating the large towel I was holding, the staff member ...
