Here are some Japanese words that can drive English-speakers crazy when learning Japanese!
While learning Japanese can be a lot of fun, there are a few things that can be a real pain – one of the most frustrating being the oddities that surround foreign loan words. Here are the ten I’ve found the most irritating and how long it’s taken me to get used to each one of them – if at all.
No. 10
ボタン (“Botan”/Button)
Irritation Meter 7/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: 4 years
No. 9
トランプ (“Toranpu”/Playing cards)
Irritation Meter 7/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: 3 years
(*Admittedly “playing cards” is also a pretty annoyingly long-winded term in English for one of the most common tools for playing games in the world.)
No. 8
バイキング (“Baikingu”/Smorgasbord or buffet)
Irritation Meter 7.5/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: 3 years
There is so much wrong with this word it’s hard to know where to start. Firstly, why “viking”? And secondly, it sounds like “biking” (yes, unfortunately there is no sound for “v” in Japanese).
No. 7
○○選手 (○○せんしゅ/”senshu”) (Player, athlete)
Irritation Meter 8/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: Never
No. 6
マイ○○ (”Mai”/My … )
Irritation Meter: Varies
Average years of study to get used to the term: Varies
I suspect this term could go either way in terms of its affability – you could either love it or hate it. My frustration probably stems from the phrase マイブーム (“mai buumu”, a thing you are currently passionate about or interested in), which just sounds really odd when directly translated into English as “my boom”. Although it sounds weird you will probably find yourself using it as it has more of a nuance for describing something you are into right now rather than using the phrase 好きなこと (“sukina koto”), which implies you’ve probably liked the thing for a long time. In the end it will probably become indispensable to your vocabulary, like the word めんどうくさい (“mendokusai”), which basically expresses that something is a pain in the butt but doesn’t have a really good equivalent in English. Even so, a part of your English-speaking soul may die every time you say it.
マイ (“mai”) is also used for the terms マイカー (“mai kaah”, my car), マイワイフ (“mai waifu”, my wife), マイペース (“mai peehsu”, my pace), and マイダーツ (“mai datsu”, my darts).
No. 5
メタボ (“Metabo”/Metabolic syndrome; used to describe someone who is overweight)
Irritation Meter: 8/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: 2 years
Here we have another word that is counter-intuitive to what you would naturally think. You would think someone who is described as メタボ would have a skinny physique. Apparently not. This word doesn’t come from the word metabolism, which you would naturally think refers to someone who has a very good metabolism. In actual fact, it comes from the term metabolic syndrome. Therefore, someone described as such will be overweight – and no, it’s not a very nice thing to say.
No. 4
スナック (“Sunakku”/Snack bar)
Irritation Meter: 8.5/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: 5 years
No. 3
ガッツポーズ (“Gattsu pohzu”/Fist pump)
Irritation Meter 9/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: 2 years
You would think this would be フィストポーズ (“fisuto pohzu”, fist pose) but alas it entered the Japanese vernacular as ガッツポーズ (“gattsu pohzu”, guts pose). Why? Apparently it was first used by the bowling magazine 週刊ガッツボウル (“Shuukan Gattsu Bouru”, The Guts Bowling Weekly) in 1972, which coined the term “guts pose” for bowlers carrying out fist pumps after attaining a strike. The word ガッツ (“gattsu”, guts) has the same meaning in English, i.e. to have guts or to have courage. I guess once you know the convoluted evolution of the word it doesn’t seem so irritating.
No. 2
ストーブ (“Sutohbu”/Heater)
Irritation Meter 9/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: 10 years
A stove is a こんろ (“konro”), and a heater is a ストーブ (“sutohbu”). Ipso facto, irritating. This is a case where the English language has evolved but the Japanese language didn’t come along with it. Centuries ago, wood burning stoves were used for heat and cooking but in modern times we just use the stove for cooking, hence the confusion. The word stove in English is now usually only reserved for a stove for cooking, but the Japanese term ストーブ (“sutohbu”) is still stuck back in the 18th century representing the humble heater.
No. 1
サンド (“Sando”/Sandwich)
Irritation Meter 10/10
Average years of study to get used to the term: Never
Perhaps it’s best to never question foreign linguistic anomalies and just accept them the way they are – a bit like cultures that are foreign to your own.
Source: Wikipedia, Imperial Hotel, Imdb, Wikipedia
Images: Flickr/Kay Kim, Flickr/Annie Pilon, Flickr/ccarlstead, Flickr/Ed Brambley, Flickr/DozoDomo, Flickr/Taeko Akatsuka, Flickr/Hajime Nakano