Japanese in the Oxford Dictionary

I wrote a post last year about Japanese words that are used in the English language (often with a different pronunciation…and sometimes even a different meaning from the original Japanese).

(Click here to read it.)

Well, it seems that this year’s edition of the Oxford Dictionary from England has added three more Japanese words to their dictionary that are supposedly in common usage in the English language now.

The words are: 「引きこもり」 (“Hikikomori“), 「過労死」 (“Karoushi“), and 「オタク」 (“Otaku“).

I know these words of course…but I can’t imagine them being used in English!
How are they used in a sentence in English?

Their definitions as taken from Oxford Dictionary Online:

★ Hikikomori
Pronunciation:/hɪˌkɪkə(ʊ)ˈmɔːri/
noun (plural same)
[mass noun]
(in Japan) the abnormal avoidance of social contact, typically by adolescent males
[count noun] a person who avoids social contact
Origin:
Japanese, literally ‘staying indoors, (social) withdrawal’

★ Karoshi
Pronunciation:/kaˈrəʊʃi/
noun
[mass noun]
(in Japan) death caused by overwork or job-related exhaustion
Origin:
Japanese, from ka ‘excess’ + rō ‘labour’ + shi ‘death’

★ Otaku
Pronunciation:/əʊˈtɑːkuː/
noun (plural same)
[mass noun]
(in Japan) a young person who is obsessed with computers or particular aspects of popular culture to the detriment of their social skills
Origin:
Japanese, literally ‘your house’, alluding to the reluctance of such young people to leave the house

I think there are a few errors in a couple of the entries.
The actual definitions are mostly fine, but the “origins” aren’t quite right.

I think they should change them to:

Hikikomori –
Origin:
Japanese, literally ‘staying indoors, (social) withdrawal’
I’d write:     Japanese; literally ‘pulling away’ or ‘(social) withdrawal’

Otaku –
Origin:
literally ‘your house’, alluding to the reluctance of such young people to leave the house
I’d write:    Japanese; literally ‘you’ or ‘your house(hold)’. Anime fans in Japan began referring to each other by this overly polite term, from which it became the term that they were all referred to by.

Also those pronunciation keys in the entries are difficult to understand.
Does anyone actually use those characters to learn how to correctly pronounce a word?

This is where Japanese kana characters are especially helpful, if you can read it.

Hikikomori is pronounced 「ひきこもり」 (hɪˌkɪkə(ʊ)ˈmɔːri),
Karoshi is pronounced 「かろうし」 (kaˈrəʊʃi),
and Otaku is pronounced 「おたく」 (əʊˈtɑːkuː).

Have you ever used these words in English conversation?

Japanese words in English

Often words or expressions from one language become part of another language. And sometimes the meaning of the word gets changed.

In Japan, alot of words of foreign origin are used in the Japanese language. Many are used quite differently in Japanese than they are in their country of origin.
For example, パン (pan) is Japanese for bread. It came from the Portuguese word “pão“, which means “bread”. And 「カステラ」 (Kasutera) is the Japanese word for a type of cake that was introduced from Portugal called “Castella“.

There are many others. From English, Japan uses words like 「アイスクリーム」 (ice cream) and バスケットボール (basketball)*.
*(Foreign sports usually keep their original name in Japanese. An exception is 「野球」 (“Yakyuu“) for “baseball”. (lit. “field globe (ball)), which isn’t called by it’s English name because it was introduced to Japan during WW2 when America was considered an enemy.)

Some words are shortened. Such as テレビ (Terebi) for “television”. And some words have morphed into something unrecognizable to English-speakers, such as 「スキンシップ」 (skinship) for “bonding”.

But it works the other way too.
America (and other countries as well, I’m sure) have adopted Japanese words into the English language. Some have retained their original meaning. But others are used with totally different meanings than the “real” Japanese meaning.
And many “Japanese words” in English are pronounced so differently that a Japanese person wouldn’t recognize it.
For example,
★ 「アニメ」 (anime: Japanese animation)
★ 「マンガ」 (manga: Japanese comics)
★ 「オタク」 (otaku: is used as “fanatic” overseas, but “a Trekkie” is closer to the Japanese meaning)
★ 「カラオケ」 (karaoke)
★ 「さようなら」 (sayonara: farewell (not used in Japan in cases when you’ll be seeing the person again before long))
★ 「台風」 (taifuu: in English, the pronunciation morphed to “typhoon”)
★ 「きもの」 (kimono)
★ 「寿司」 (sushi: isn’t “raw fish” (that’s sashimi). Sushi is vinegared-rice with a topping (such as sashimi))
★ 「(お)酒」 ((O)-saké)
★ 「すき焼き」 (sukiyaki)
★ 「相撲」 (sumo: Japan’s national sport)
★ 「芸者」 (Geisha: aren’t prostitutes)
★ 「歌舞伎」 (Kabuki)

A promo poster for a Kabuki show

★ 「班長」 (hanchou: morphed into the English “(Head) honcho“)
★ 「津波」 (tsunami)
★ 「人力車」 (jin-riki-sha: morphed into the English “Rick-shaw“)

I’m sure there are more. This is all that I could think of off the top of my head.
Do you know some other instances of Japanese words being popularly used in English (or another language)?

Akihabara

秋葉原 (Akihabara) is the largest electronic district in Tokyo. And one of the, if not the, largest electronic districts in the entire world!

I have heard that originally 秋葉原 (Akihabara) was called Akibahara (which would actually be a more accurate reading of the town’s name 「秋葉原」), so people who frequent the area often call it 「アキバ」 (Akiba), as a nickname.

Anyways, my kids went out with my inlaws today, so my wife and I went to 秋葉原 (Akihabara) because we’re considering buying a ケータイ電話 (cell-phone) for our oldest daughter.

All three of my kids want a ケータイ電話 (cell-phone)…but for a number reasons, we’ve decided against it until they’re in high-school. Once they begin high-school, they’ll take a train to school everyday…so we think a ケータイ電話 (cell-phone) might be necessary.

My oldest daughter will begin high-school (equivalent to 10th grade in the U.S.) next month…so we may give her a ケータイ電話 (cell-phone). I’m over-protective of my kids…so I’m not sure yet. I have to decide.

But if you want to buy electronics, manga, anime…or any other otaku (geek) culture (including a visit to a “maid cafe“)…then you should visit 秋葉原 (Akihabara).

Here are a couple videos I took too:

うちの３姉妹

Do you know the words “manga” and “anime“?

Maybe they have become commons words in Western countries…but before I came to Japan in 1990, I had never heard either of those two terms before.

They are both Japanese words.
マンガ (Manga) is the word to describe Japanese comic books. アニメ (Anime) is a Japanese word that comes from the English word “animation”…it’s the word for Japanese cartoons.

Are you a manga and/or anime fan? (You don’t call yourself an オタク (otaku)*, do you??)

*(オタク (otaku) is another Japanese word that, it seems, is being used in Western countries that was never used in America when I lived there. オタク (Otaku) are compulsive fans.)

I’m not really a fan of manga or anime. I know some of them because I have three kids.

Sometimes I watch 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou), 「ちびまる子ちゃん」 (Chibi-Maruko-chan), 「サザエさん」 (Sazae-san), 「あたしンち」 (Atashinchi), or 「クレヨンしんちゃん」 (Crayon-Shin-chan).
And sometimes I might read one of those series in manga.

I watch those anime series because they’re all funny and show average life in Japan.
I can relate.
(Well, 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) is about 妖怪 (ghosts)).

I occasionally read a manga in order to practice reading Japanese.

One manga that I like to read is called 「ダーリンは外国人」 (“My Darling Is A Foreigner“).
It’s written by a Japanese woman whose husband is an American. They live in Tokyo and the manga is a chronicle of their life in an international marriage.
I can relate to this comic, too.

Another one I like to read is called うちの３姉妹 (“Our Three Daughters“).
(うちの３姉妹 isn’t so easy to translate accurately! Something like “Our Family’s Three Sisters” is closer…but that sounds odd in English. Anyways, it means “Our Three Daughters”.)

The author of this one is a mother of three girls close in age…like my daughters are.
Her daughters are younger than mine…but I remember when my kids acted like hers do.
I can relate to this one, as well.