By Carsten Mende

English in Chinese and Japanese – Adopting loan words in foreign languages

Loan words are part of each language and they enrich its vocabulary and texture. Some are used to explain new words and fields, some are used just because they are cool. Today English is the international lingua franca. So let's have a look at how the Chinese and Japanese languages incorporate English terms and how they are used.

 

English, Chinese and Japanese syllables – what is possible

Every language is based on sounds. In order to write down these sounds (or syllables) you need a combination of some kind of letters.  

The Latin alphabet allows numerous variations for combining letters and the amount of syllables is extremely large. In English nearly all 26 letters can be combined – from abacus to zymosis – thus allowing more than 11,000 syllables.

In Chinese and Japanese this is totally different: Chinese (Mandarin) is written in Chinese characters, with each one reflecting a syllable and not a single letter. With a total number of about 460 syllables, the Chinese language is still fairly flexible.  

Japanese has three different systems to write down the syllables: the so-called kanji (i.e. Chinese characters), hiragana and katakana. The hiragana and katakana are systems for transcribing Japanese syllables, but they don't contain any meaning (in contrast to the kanji). While the Hiragana is used for Japanese words or the flection of kanjis, the katakana is used only for adopting loan words. Thus, the Japanese language has its own writing system for adopting loan words.  

Regarding the syllable treasury, the Japanese is based on the so-called „50 sounds table“ (gojuu-on-zu 五十音図) plus some additional syllables, so the number of syllables is far fewer than 100.

 

Adopting loan words in Chinese and Japanese

Generally speaking there are three mechanisms for the adaptation of English words in both languages:

• the phonemic way,
• the semantic way and
• the adaptation without any transformation.  

In addition to these mechanisms I'd like to introduce a special Chinese method (a mixture of phonemic and semantic adaptation) and also a special Japanese method, called Wasei Eigo (English made in Japan).  

 

Chinese – 洋为中用
China tried to use Western knowledge to improve its own development, especially at the end of the 19th century. At that time the slogan “洋为中用” (use the West to serve China) came up. That was also the time of many innovations, increasing the need for new words.  

Chinese offers four ways of adopting loan words.  

a) phonemic 听得懂，看不懂  

Examples:

 

Logic	逻辑	lo ji
Coffee	咖啡	ka fei

 

The word is transliterated on the basis of the original sound. So the phonetics are roughly preserved, but the meaning is lost, as you might see in these two examples. While the first character for logic means “to patrol”, the meaning of the second character is “to edit.” So it is very hard to understand the meaning of “logic” by simply reading the word character by character.  

Both characters for coffee are especially designed for this word, but are based on similar characters, which have the same intonation.  

b) semantic 听不懂，看得懂  

Examples:

 

computer	电脑	dian nao
rail	火车	huo che
software	软件	ruan jian

This is the common mechanism for adopting loan words in Chinese: The phonetics are neglected, but common people can associate the meaning by reading the characters. The literal translation for computer is electric (dian) brain (nao), the one for rail is fire (huo) vehicle (che). Software is an interesting example, because the word is translated word for word (soft + ware).  

c) a mixture of phonemic and semantic 听不懂，看不懂  

Examples:

 

internet	因特网	yin te wang
Internet café	网吧	wang ba

Mixing the two (phonemic and semantic) adaptations is not very easy to understand. Neither the acoustic nor the visual impact is helpful: While the first two characters of internet are imitating the sound, the last character is the literal translation of net. The word internet café uses the same word for net, but the second character is imitating the sound of bar (or pub). 

d) no transformation 听得懂，看得懂
It has become popular to leave some simple words in Latin letters: i.e. T-Shirt or email. These words are put in the Chinese phrase just as a normal word.  

 

Japanese – カタカナ
When the Meiji Revolution started in 1868, the exchange with Western scientists was intensified. A lot of new words and topics entered the Japanese language. In addition to English words there were a lot of German words, e.g. Kranke (for the patient in the hospital).  

The first three ways of adopting loan words are identical with the Chinese.  

a) phonemic

 

computer	コンピュータ	conpyu-ta
internet	インターネット	inta-netto

This is the usual adaptation in Japanese. Katakana is used in this case. The word is transliterated on the basis of the original sound. So the phonetics are roughly preserved, but the meaning is lost. In contrast to Chinese, the adaptations of computer and internet are done by the phonemic way (instead of semantic or the mixture of phonemic and semantic way).  

b) semantic

 

rail	鉄道	tetsudo-
democracy	民主主義	minshushugi

The phonetics are neglected, but people can associate the meaning by reading the characters. While the Chinese adaptation of rail is an explanation of “the train”, the Japanese focus on the rail tracks (iron and way). The adaptation for democracy is very easy to understand: the ism of the people's rule.  

c) no translation  
In Japanese it is very common to leave simple words in Latin letters, i.e. love, happy.  

d) "English made in Japan" 和製英語 (wasei eigo)

 

オープンカー	o-penka-	open car	convertible
サラリーマン	sarari-man	salary man	clerk

This is a Japanese curiosity and a false friend. These words written in Katakana seem to be foreign words, but they are created in Japan and can only be understood with sufficient knowledge of the Japanese culture.

O-penka- is not the order to open the car; it is the term for a convertible car. A sarari-man is actually a synonym for John Bull or an ordinary clerk.

 

Examples of brand names and soccer players

Transferring brand names into Chinese and Japanese is very difficult. You have to choose between two options: You can give your company (or product) one face globally, or you can adapt the name to the habits and values of the specific culture.

In China, most companies choose the cultural approach because Latin letters are very rare. They often choose pleasant sounding translations. In Japan the name is often left in Latin letters, to underline the foreign origin. Alternatively katakana can also be used.  

 

English	Chinese	Chinese	Japanese
Coca Cola	可口可乐	ke kou ke le	ko ka ko ra
BMW	宝马	bao ma	be em yu  (or be em double yu)

While Coca Cola is written in Katakana in Japanese, the Chinese meaning is already a slogan of its own: A joy in the mouth. BMW for example is read as capital letters, and the meaning in Chinese is precious horse.

 

English	Chinese	Chinese	Japanese
Rooney	鲁尼	lu ni	ru- ni-
Podolski	波多尔斯基	bo duo er si ji	po do ru su ki-
Maradona	馬拉度納	ma la du na	ma ra do- na

Soccer players are always transliterated on the basis of the original sound – in both languages. In Japanese the names sound (relatively) familiar to the real names. But in Chinese there are often confusing combinations. Wayne Rooney's first character means stupid or is a family name or an old name for Shandong, the second character means Buddhist nun. Lukas Podolski's characters have the meaning of wave, many, you, this and base. And Diego Maradona's name consists of the characters for horse, to pull, degree and to accept.

 

Conclusion

Translating or transferring into a foreign language is not as simple as it seems. Even obvious things may shape up as something completely different. So you should always treat your customer attentively, take him seriously and be prepared to communicate in his mother tongue. This is the best way for a good understanding. But adapting a Chinese or Japanese name into English is also difficult. For example, “SJZU” is the abbreviation for the Shenyang Jianzhu University (while Jianzhu stands for Civil engineering and architecture).  

A Japanese travel agency decided to enter the British market and to keep their name. It is the old name for a region around Kyoto and Osaka. Unfortunately their name is Kinki Nippon Tourist Company. Just after a few weeks they changed their name for the UK into knt.

 

References

• Blandina Brösicke, Tilman Lesche, „Klonen und BSE - wie sagen es die Chinesen? Neue Worte in der chinesischen Sprache“ http://www.chinafokus.de/kultur/sprache/neologismen.php
• Feng Zhiwei, „The Structure of Chinese Loanwords“
  http://www.lingviko.net/feng/structure-zwfeng.pdf
• Wolfgang Hadamitzky, „Handbuch und Lexikon der japanischen Schrift, Kanji und Kana, Bd. 1“, Langenscheidt 1997.
• Yong Liang, „Die chinesischen Fachsprachen im 20. Jahrhundert und ihre Erforschung: eine Übersicht“, in: Lothar Hoffmann, Hartwig Kalverkämper, Herbert Ernst Wiegand (ed.): Walter de Gruyter 1999, p. 1592-1599.