Forum

Why does anime use random English Words instead of using the Japanese way of saying it? I don't recall ever not seeing characters saying words/phrases like; love letter, kiss, first kiss, date, fight (when they cheer), stalker, nice catch, and some other words I forgot in Japanese. Is it just an anime thing?

because every language imports and assimilates words from other languages. right now it is mostly from english, but japanese also has quite a few words from dutch, german, french, portuguese ... and of course, chinese.

some of these words are used because they are new concepts (stalker?), others because they sound cooler, fresher, exotic or more romantic.
But they frequently use the word "kuchizuke" instead of "kiss", and sometimes "koibumi" instead of "love letter".

It does seem that Japanese have mostly given up on creating new words with kanji, if an english word already exists. Some time ago translators created new words (new kanji combinations) in order to convey a new, foreign concept, like "science", "philosophy" f.ex., and I got the impression this doesn't happen a lot anymore (but it's not like I researched this in detail).

When I read the thread topic I thought you were asking why English words and phrases get subtitled.

I think these words, being trendy in usage, are more common in anime than what youngsters use in real life. Knowing a little English is encouraged, but using English simply to sound trendy and add color to your speech isn't comparable with actually being interested in learning to use a foreign language in a conversational capacity. Perhaps it is actually a form of youthful rebelliousness in a conformist society to mock efforts to increase English proficiency by making random English words into nothing more than slang and colloquialisms. That is probably exaggerated in anime being it is a form of entertainment targeted at young adults and attempts to sensationalize the lifestyles of teenagers and youth.

English is considered 'cool' in Japan, although their use of it is oftentimes humorous (Google "engrish" and see for yourself).

They import and assimilate a ton of English words into their own language...some of them do not have direct counterparts in Japanese, but a lot of times the borrowed English words do have direct Japanese counterparts, so their inclusion seems random at times to me.

I agree with the guy above who said that they use English words at times because it's cooler, exotic, fresh, etc.

I'm sort of skeptical that English words are used in Japan as prolifically as anime suggests, too. But, pretending that it does reflect reality, I find it interesting that they not only import words from English, they import the wrong words ("Game Set!") or do some incredibly bizarre linguistic tuning (the fascinating etymology of "ecchi," or the miniaturization of phrases like sexual harassment)

Because girls saying kisu and raburabu (love love) is cuter. Razz

I never really tried to count it, but apart from special terms related to a certain series, I don't have the impression that animes use more english words than other media and the people in general (well, the older generation certainly uses less of these new words).

Yttrbio wrote:

But, pretending that it does reflect reality, I find it interesting that they not only import words from English, they import the wrong words ("Game Set!") or do some incredibly bizarre linguistic tuning (the fascinating etymology of "ecchi," or the miniaturization of phrases like sexual harassment)

That's a very common thing in linguistics and happens everywhere. Just try to find out what "Handy" and "public viewing" mean in German oO
Or some time ago I was shocked to find out that you have to spell "connaisseur" as "connoisseur" for it to be correct in english (but it's so wrong in french and sounds so weird! Anime hyper

which is quite ironic given the meaning of the word). Well, it is possible that in comparison Japanese does import more words than some other languages, but I don't know about other asian languages.

It's not just anime, it's how young people talk.

For example, if you listen to 2 20-somethings talking about the internet, it's like 20% english loan words (download, upload, file, folder, etc etc).

There's even a drinking game people play: the "english is forbidden" game where you have to take a drink if you say a word that came from english.

One should also keep in mind that Japanese is, already half chinese. By that I mean that half the words are derived from ancient pronunciations of kanji compounds (the on-yomi readings). Prior to the introduction of kanji none of those words existed either, and in modern day those are often used much more commonly than the original japanese words for the sam concepts.

So it's happened in the past and it'll continue to happen.

You learn something everyday. Thanks for all the good responses.

The same reason why English itself consistently borrows from other languages. Because having a varied vocabulary and multiple ways of saying things is just more fun.

Yttrbio wrote:

I'm sort of skeptical that English words are used in Japan as prolifically as anime suggests, too. But, pretending that it does reflect reality, I find it interesting that they not only import words from English, they import the wrong words ("Game Set!") or do some incredibly bizarre linguistic tuning (the fascinating etymology of "ecchi," or the miniaturization of phrases like sexual harassment)

You may find this interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gairaigo