JAPLISH SERIES Script 4: Shortener

 
  Hello everyone,


   This will be my last Japlish series, at least for now. But don't worry, I have many other topics and subjects to blog about.

   So, let's talk about the "shortener" Japlish.  The shortening of foreign imported words (a pair at times); making it simpler and easier to convey messages to one another. Here's the catch, it doesn't apply for foreigners. Japanese people are lazy sometimes when it comes to conveying long messages. They want to do it as efficiently as possible. Using less mouth movements, time and energy.

 Let me show you some examples.


          Remote Controller =    RimoCon  
                                                                                 If you were to pronounce it


       Entertainment        =    Entame  
                                                                                 If you were to pronounce it


      Convenience Store =   Konbini  
                                                                                 If you were to pronounce it

  As you can see, they strip away tad bits of letters to achieve these shortened form of words. I really don't have a problem with this creative idea for effective communication. However, I think this creates confusion among foreigners in Japan who have not been made aware of this type of modification towards foreign words. This use of Japlish is also very common with the younger generation. They tend to shorten almost any words that tend to be catchy when shortened.
  It can be confusing at times because the shortened words could mean something else among a group of younger generation.
 As a foreigner, I suggest you research some of these 'shortener' words before coming to Japan. Always ask if you are uncertain of a foreign-like word they just used in front of you.

So, these three aspects of Japlish are what you should be aware of when travelling to Japan. The pronunciation, translation and shortener.



CNN Travel's Daniel Morales covered about this topic in his article. I'll leave the link below and you can take a look at his interesting points.

Japlish: It's two confusing languages in one!


Have a lovely day, and Live your Life