Kanji Clinic #59 The Japan Times, September 2, 2004
"Incomprehensible foreign loanwords land on hit list"
A panel set up by the National Institute for Japanese Language (Kokugoken) has declared war on domesutikkubaiorensu (domestic violence)--not on the problem itself, but on the term describing it.
Domesutikkubaiorensu, an 11-syllable mouthful of a word often abbreviated to "DV,"
was coined in the late 1990s, when the Japanese government moved to enact
laws protecting victims of this social problem for which there was a growing
awareness but no name.
According to recent research conducted by Kokugoken, the meaning of domesutikkubaiorensu, a foreign loanword (gairaigo) written in katakana, is understood by only half of the Japanese public aged 15 and older. The institute's advisory panel, comprised of university professors, authors, and journalists, is recommending that its own linguistic creation, 配偶者間暴力 (haiguushyakanbouryoku, violence-between-spouses) be adopted as a substitute by the media and
government.
English-based loanwords hold an intellectual or exotic appeal for many
Japanese people, but their ever-increasing numbers have rendered a sizable
portion of the Japanese language incomprehensible to the average native
speaker. Kokugoken has determined that the worst offenders should be replaced
with more easily understandable kanji compound words. 配偶者間暴力 is one
of 142 kanji substitutes for gairaigo the panel has proposed since announcing
its first hit list in April 2003. The final version of the third list (in
a planned series of four) will be released later this month. The three
lists can be viewed at www.kokken.go.jp/public/gairaigo/.
Many of the targeted gairaigo represent concepts related to recent trends
in business, government, and health care. The panel, making use of the
remarkable creative power of kanji, has invented compound-word substitutes
for the likes of "dumping" (不当廉売, futourenbai, unfair-cheap-selling), "think tank" (政策研究機関, seisakukenyuukikan, policy- research-institute) and “informed medical consent” (納得診療
nattokushinryou, understood-diagnosis and treatment).
In its face-off against the legions of computer-related gairaigo that have
poured into the Japanese language in the past decade, the panel endeavored
to find substitutes for such loanwords as "online" and "database."
It eventually surrendered to these two, already well-entrenched in the
language, and struck them from the list. But the panel is still holding
out hope for 接続開始 (setsuzokukaishi, connection-commencement) to replace "log-in."
Many of the recommended replacements, including 接続開始, are not newly coined words. The panel advocates that gairaigo interlopers raiburarii (library), tsuuru (tool), and deribarii (delivery) not be allowed to replace good old-fashioned Japanese words 図書館 (toshokan, library), 道具(dougu, tool), and 配達 (haitatsu, delivery). Politicians pepper their speeches with flashy gairaigo like gabanansu (governance) and konsensasu (consensus), but since three out of four of their listeners don't have
a clue what those two mean, the panel suggests sticking with tried-and-true
統治(touchi, governance) and 同意 (doui, consensus).
It is unlikely that Kokugoken's quixotic efforts will result in a major
victory over gairaigo. We kanji lovers, though, can enjoy observing the
skirmishes as we wait to see which of the panel-recommended kanji compound
words actually triumph over gairaigo and take root in the language.
QUIZ
Match each gairaigo below with the kanji compound word the Kokugoken panel recommends as its substitute:
1. アカウンタビリティー akauntabiritii (accountability)
2. アーカイブ aakaibu (archive)
3. エンパワーメント enpawaamento (empowerment)
4. キャピタルゲイン kyapitarugein (capital gain)
5. セカンドオピニオン sekandoopinion (second opinion)
6. パートナーシップ paatonaashippu (partnership)
7. インセンティブ insentibu (incentive)
8. アセスメント asesumento (assessment)
a. 影響評価 (effect-evaluation) b.資産益 (asset-profit) c. 第二診断 (second-medical-diagnosis).
d.記録保存館 (records-preservation-building) e. 意欲刺激 (volition-stimulation)
f.能力開化 (ability-enlightenment) g.協力関係 (cooperation-relationship)
h. 説明責任 (explanation-responsibility)
ANSWERS
1.h, setsumeisekinin 2.d, kirokuhozonkan, 3.f, nouryokukaika 4.b, shisaneki 5.c, dainishindan 6.g, kyouryokukankei 7.e, iyokushigeki 8.a, eikyouhyouka
How do the Chinese deal with foreign loanwords? Read this column to find out.
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