Japanese English

History of Japanese English

1600 •Tokugawa Ieyasu •William Adams

1616-1673 •English was banned in Japan

1808 •Phaeton appeared in Nagasaki Gulf

1848 •MacDonald arrives in Japan•He teaches 14 interpreters

1865 •Yokohama Academy

1874 •91 foreign schools•82 schools taught English

NAKAHAMA MANJIRO (1827-1898)

• Studied in USA for 10 years•   He wrote, “Eibei Taiwa Shokei”

(A shortcut to Anglo-American Conversation).  This was the first English text published in Japan  

Phonology

Why do you think Japanese

pronounce English poorly?

Native language is an especially good predictor of pronunciation accuracy in English (Suter, 1976)

Japanese has fewer sounds than English.

The Sounds of Japanese

Consonants (19)

k, g, s, sh, z, j, t, ch, ts, d, n, h, f, b, p, m, y, r, w

Vowels (5) a, i, u, e, o

Doubled Vowels

Single Pronunciationa aai iiu uue eeo oo

Doubled Consonants

Single Double

k kk eg: gakkou - (gak.kou)

s ss

sh ssh

t tt eg: yatta! - (yat.ta)

ch *tch/cch

ts tts

p pp eg: yappari - (yap.pari)

Limited clusters

Syllable-timed language

> Japanese learners tend to produce syllables of similar time length or duration (Bonds and Fokes, 1985)

> Difficulty in identifying stressed syllables

Katakana English

• Katakana- exclusively used to transcribe loan/foreign words

• Smart – su.ma.to• Project – pu.ro.je.ku.to• Arbeit (German for Part time) – a.ru.bai.to

• Hence, Japanese tend to pronounce words the way they are written in katakana.

Add vowels specifically “u”, “i” and

“o”

Furii(free)

Torakku

(truck)

Forudaa

(folder)

Webusaito

(website)

Shiidii

(CD)

• Difficulty and confusion in distinguishing:– V and B

• Changing V to B• Valentine – Barentain• Violin – Baiorin

– *R and L– F and H

•Ha-Hi-Fu-He-Ho• Food and Hood

– Th and S• Changing Th to S• Birthday – Basude• Thank you - Sankyuu

“R” and “L”

• Both sounds DO NOT exist!–English R is different from

Japanese R• Love – Rabu• Balloon – Barroon• Rice- Laisu• Right – Laito

• A switch between R and L

Morphology

Word Combinations

• Adjective + Noun–Free market (furii maketo)-

Flea market

• Noun + Noun–Baby Car (Bebii Kaa)- Stroller–Drink Sherbet (Dorinku

Shabei)- Sherbet

• My + Noun–Mycar- What kind of mycar do

you drive?–Myhome- Where is your

myhome?

• Prefix: Super–All natural liquor- Super

natural liquor

Lexicon

AisukyandyîMakkudonarudoHankachiSekushiiSense’eshon

HoteruShanpuuFashon-saronFurîsaizuSarada

Lexicon

• functional purposes • “decorative” or “design”

purposes

= both for Japanese consumption and not for native English speakers

• “Ron-pari” (London, Paris)• “Pipa doraiba” (Paper Driver)

• ‘Gairaigo’ [words from abroad]• ‘Wasei Eigo’ [lit. Japan-made

English]

10%

60%-70%

foreign words

are from English

• Dutch– “gomu” (rubber eraser), “sukoppu” (scoop)

• French– “zubon” (trousers), “anke’eto”

(inquête,questionnaire), dessan(dessin,sketch), aramo'odo (à la mode)

• Portuguese– “tempura” (tenpura),

butane(botão,button), biro'odo (veludo,velvet)

LEXIS• Loanwords• Blending–Acronym – OL, NG, SP, PV, CM–Clipping – masukumi, pasokon,

minisuka, sekohan, e’akon–Neologism – salary man, paper

driver, baby car

Loanwords• Transliteration and

transvocalization• only 5 vowel sounds–“Osutararya” (Australia),  

“foku” (fork), “teburu” (table), “marason” (marathon), “chaamingu” (charming), “ton’neru” (tunnel), “shatsu” (shirt), “raburetaa” (love letter)

Loan Words

Japanese with loan words• Ha'inekku ra'into chiisana botanga kyuutona se'etaawa romanchikku

na rabendaa-irode bodizentai wo messhu-nittode matometa pure'in deza'inga furesshusonomono, gazen naona rukkudesu.

• The sweater with a high neckline and cute little buttons has the bodice in Romanticlavender color, wholly unified by the mesh knit into a plain design; here isfreshness itself, absolutely now in look.

• Discounting particles: prepositions and conjunctions, the text contains 19 words, mostly nouns and adjectives, and fourteen of these are English-derived words. SYNTAX STILL JAPANESE

• English infused with Japanese“The sweater with a takaieriguri and kawairashii chiisanabuttons has the do'obu in Romantic fuji-iro, sukkariunified by the amime-amiinto a kazarikenonaidesign, here is sugasugashisaitself, gazennow in look.”

Loanwords

• Functional purpose:• No Japanese word equivalent–Western science: Ami’ibaa, neon,

me’etoru–Technology: enjin, mo'otaa,

pisuton, ke'eburukaa–Sports: tenisu, badominton

Loan Words

• Design purpose:• "Furesshu" than "sawayaka" • "rabendaa" than "fujiiro" • "kyuuto" than "kawairashii"

• soft olivegreen silk blouse “sofuto na oriibuguri'in no shiruku burausu”

Neologisms

• cost down (cost reduction)• back mirror (rearview mirror)• free market (flea market)• hotchkiss (stapler)• baby car (stroller)• body check (security check)• paper driver (a person who rarely

drives )• salary man (wage earner)

(Honna, 2008:96)

Neologisms• morning call (wake-up call)• after service (after sales service)• hi-select gift (a well-selected gift)• heartfelt gift ( a gift to express heartfelt

thanks)• happy retire ( a happy life after retirement)• work life balance (ratio of working to

leisure),• working poor ( lowly paid workers)

(Honna, 2008:96)

Syntax

Last night, I ate a chicken in the backyard.I found the hams in the refrigerator.

Last night, I ate chicken in the backyard.I found a ham in the refrigerator.I found ham in the refrigerator.

Ø, no count nounsBecause of the lack of articles in Japanese

My father work in the office.My sister go to school.

My father works in the office.My sister goes to school.

S-V agreement

My dog eating.Children playing jakenpon.

Verb Tense-Lack of auxiliary verbs in Japanese

It is thought that scientists may be considered to be under the absolute obligation never to forget environmental issues.Discovery is reported of a virus believed to be responsible for a disease similar to AIDS in cats.My haircut was changed.

I think scientists must never forget environmental issues.We discovered a virus believed to be responsible for a disease similar to AIDS in cats.I changed my haircut.

Excessive use of the passive voice- use of active voice is

considered condescending.

SYNTAX

Ø, Count NounsS-V AgreementVerb tenseExcessive use of the passive voice

• use of "later" instead of "in" to indicate a future time (eg. "10 years later" instead of "in 10 years").

• use of nouns instead of adjectives (eg. "minus image" instead of "negative image").

• mistaken use of "almost" + noun (eg. "almost Japanese" instead of "almost all Japanese")

• addition of "to" before a gerund or words that do not require it like "there" or "here" (eg. "Let's go to shopping", "I came to here").

• the excessive use of "hope" instead of expect, wish, would like, or want. (e.g. "I hope to meet you tomorrow at 6pm if it is convenient for you").

• excessive use of "play" and "enjoy" instead of "go out", "have fun", "do", etc. (eg."last weekend I played skiing" or "last night I played with my coworkers" or "In Hawaii you can enjoy shopping").

• excessive use of "popular" instead of "common" or "usual" (eg. "Is snowing popular in your country" ?)

• Susan Butler – 1987Pronunciation FeaturesHistoryLiteratureReference Works

Japanese English at Present

Disparate English

Japanese people who are immigrants and use full English

Infusion of Japanese in English sentences

English syntax stays

Japanese grammar/sentence with English words

Japlish

Japanese people who cannot speak English

Complete Japanese

MOAG

Expansion in Use

SCHNEIDER

Nativisation

Perception to L2 English

• ESL as deficient speakers• Non-native speakers come from a

lower status• “strange English”

• American or British English as ‘the best’ Positive attitude toward American varieties negative toward non-native varieties

Ideologies of English and ELT

• Nihonjinron• Cultural uniqueness• ‘English imperialism’, ‘Domination of

English’• Sense of identity loss• Kokusaika • ‘internationalization’ in government

and business• Promotes teaching and learning

Education reform

Do you think ambivalence exist in the JpE?

• Highly political–Two opposing ideologies:•Kokusaika- English = internationalization•Nihonjinron- English = identity loss

• Varieties of English are sub-standard and detracts from the value of standard English.

• There is high acceptance of English in all secondary schools where English is included in the curriculum.

• Though, some have ambivalent views.• Unwilling to accept varieties of

English.• JpE will long remain as part of the EFL

variety.

(Morrow, 2004)

• (1) Which variety of English should be taught in Japan?

• (2) Should an English teacher be an ENL or an ESL speaker in a Japanese school?

• (3) In your view, do the Japanese recognize their own variety of English?