Thursday, July 06, 2006
gairaigo - borrowing words
While I've been trying to pick up words in japanese, I've also been noticing how many english words somehow end up as part of the japanese language. The name for these words is gairaigo - meaning "borrowed word". Here are some of the funnier sounding gairaigo:
You know that you've been on that wikipedia page for long enough, when people start giving you weird looks as you try to pronounce some of those words ;-)
- rimokon short for rimooto kontororu! This means remote control. Where did I put the remote control would be "Rimokon doko ni oitakke?"
- sekkusu - yes it does sound a bit like "sex". That was an easily guessable one!
- this is my favourite: "Pantsu getta"! Obviously means pants getter. I won't go into the details of this new hobby here .. but it's quite interesting. traceback
- internetto - not so sure how often this one is used. I mean, some people (another) have used the word. But it sure as hell sounds funny to me.
- tarento meaning talent. This refers to TV celebrities.
You know that you've been on that wikipedia page for long enough, when people start giving you weird looks as you try to pronounce some of those words ;-)
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Can I ask you how often gairaigo is used in Japan? How much times per day? Could you give me a rough estimate- 10, 100, or 1000? Email me at michael20051994@yahoo.com. I'd appreciate it!
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