English in Japan Preliminary Statement These are chapters developed from lectures plus extra task materials reproduced in their preliminary form as of 28 March 2017. They are not yet complete, and need review. However, to the extent that they provide a basis for doing tasks in part of my course in Kochi University’s Faculty of Humanities and Economics. As such they are intended for educational purposes. Further, certain content from other sources subject to appropriate permission requests. As extensively as possible sources of outside content has been cited or otherwise made known. Otherwise all content, views, opinions and data presented herein is based on original research and is the original work of the author. Contents listed below refer to the version as of 28.3.2017. An audio version, Tasks and a Glossary are provided as separate files available on consultations Any issues or questions, please contact Howard Doyle at hdoyle@kochi-u.ac.jp, or inlanecove@gmail.com. Contents Preface 0.0 Introduction 0.1 Outline 1. ‘English in Japan’ or ‘Japanese English’ - or what? 1 a. i. Outline 1 a. ii. Rationale 1 a. iii. Japanese English, English in Japan and the Inner/Outer/Extending Circle Model of World Englishes Figure 1: Two Versions of Braj Kachru’s ‘Three Circles Model of World Englishes’. 1 b i. Types of English and Users of English in Japan. 1 b. i. Defining Types of English in Japan Figure 2: Unrealistic and Realistic English Language Teaching Models in Japan 1 b. ii. Some Users of English in Japan: a couple of problems with the ‘institutionalized variety’/’internalized system’ dichotomy, and ‘speakers’ 1 b. iii. The Need to Consider as many Types of English as Possible Summary of Section 1 b Task 1: 1 c. 1 c. i How you see your English in Japan now English in Japan and English as a World Language English is Not the only World Language Table 1: Some Features of Japanese English Language Forms, Use and People’s Attitudes Table 2: ‘Japanese English’ in Stanlaw’s (2004) and others’ views 1 c. iii. English in Japan as Japanese English: amorphized, or ‘Remade in i Japan’? ‘Japanese English’ or English in Japan’ or what? conclusion 1 d. Summary of Sections 1 c & d Summary of Lecture 1 2. what? Is English in Japan Really English or Really Japanese, or 2 a. 2 b i。 Outline English in Japan and Japanese English Revisited 2 b. ii. 2 c. What Happens to English when it Becomes Used With or As Japanese? Non-Japanese (language) in Japan: communicating Task 2: NOT using Japanese to communicate in Japan Summary of Sections 2 a, b & c 2 d. 2 d. i. 2 d. ii. 2 d. iii. English in Japan Amorphized: a continuum from dispirate English to Wasei Eigo becoming more ‘Japanese’ Disparate English English in Japan Losing its ‘Englishness’ Wasei Eigo – English mixed with Japanese, becoming Japanese. Figure 3: Comparisons of Latin usage in English with English usage in relation to Japanese 2 d. iv. 2 d v. Amorphized Items from Other Languages in Japanese Chinese Amorphized into Japanese Table 3: Japanese On and Chinese Kun Readings of the base kanji of Japanese days of the week 2 d vi. Language and Other Things Moving from one Culture to another Figure 4: On the origins of ‘Beer’ in Japan. 2 d vii. Types of Views on Mixing English and Japanese in the Literature Table 4: Understandings of Wasei Eigo in the literature 2 d viii. Etymology showing Amorphization of English into Japanese Figure 5: Loveday’s Socio-functional model of language contact strategies Table 5: Common Japanese words actually thoroughly Amorphized from Other Languages Task 3: Looking for Where English Words in Japan have Come from. 2 d. ix. English in Japan which has less ‘Englishness’. Summary of Section 2 d 2 e. 2e i. English in Japan as a Continuum A Continuum Model of English in Japan 2 f. 2 f. i. 2 f. ii. Figure 6: Types of English in Japan as a Continuum ‘Japlish’ ‘Japlish’ Japlish: Example 1 ii Task 4: 2 f. iii. Example Text 1: Lloyd & Hana-Ogi conversation segment Japlish Language Japlish Discourse: Example 2 – spoken discourse 2 f. iv. Example Text 2: Japanese Girls’ & Gaijin Boys’ Conversation Japlish Discourse: Example 3 & 4– written texts Example Text 3: Hitachi Logo & Banner Text Example Text 4: English and Japanese together in Japan: a magazine/pamphlet cover text. 2f.v. What ‘Japlish’ can Mean 2 f. vi. Japlish as Pidgin or Creole: 2 f. vii. 2 f. viii. English, Japanese and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Japlish as Pidgin or Creole: Text Example 5 2 f. ix. 2 f. x. Example Text 5: Wes’s Conversation Japlish and Pragmatic Awareness So, is Japlish actually Pidgin or Creole? Summary of Sections 2e & 2f 2 g.. 2 g. i Applying a Continuum Model A Continuum of English in Japan Figure 7:‘Lloyd’ and ‘Hana-ogi’ (H & L), ‘Japanese girls and the gaijin guys in the bar’ (J & G) and ‘Wes’ (W), ‘Hitachi’ (H) and Keizai Sangyoushou Kyouroku Kabushukigaisha (KSSK) texts on a Continuum of ‘English in Japan 2g ii 2 h. 2 h. i. 2 h. ii. Task 5: Finding English in Japan and Placing it on a Continuum Limitations of the Continuum Model of English in Japan ‘Is Japanese English really English or is it really Japanese?’: Answers As English As Japanese 2 h. iii 2 i. 2i. i. Example Text 6: Text with English and Japanese Mixed As neither English nor Japanese – just comprehensible language in context Amorphization as a language practice Japanese English as an Outcome of a Process which starts with English Summary of Sections 2 g, h & i Summary of Lecture 2 3. History of English in Japan Figure 8: Tradition-Setting Wave of Contact with English in Japan Figure 9: Historical Timeline of People’s Contact with English in Japan: tradition-adding waves Figure 10: Historical Timeline Showing Developments in People’s Use of English in Japan iii 3a. History of English in Japan 1– Contact with English as Contact with Texts 3 a.i. Linguistic and Anthropological Ideas about Contact with English Summary of Lecture 3 (1) Section 3a Figure 11: Types of Contact with Languages, from a Linguistic Perspective: 3b. 3 b. i ii. iii. History of English in Japan 2– Contact with English Early Insignificant Contact with English: dispelling myths William Adams (Miura Anjin) (1564 – 1620) Richard Cocks (1566 – 1624) Figure 12: "Grave of Anjin Miura" (William Adams), Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. 3 b. ii. 3 b. iii. Dutch and English during Japan’s Closed Period: 1635 to the 1850s. Sudden Contact with English: Impact of the Phaeton Incident, 1808. Figure 13: Historic Timeline of Japanese Foreign Language Institutions, specifically Tokyo University and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies 3 b. iv. 3b.v 3 b. vi. i. ii. Dutch and other Language Learning by people in Japan up to the 1850s. Early Tradition of English Learning and Learning English: a comment People Bringing English, a Culture of English (or something like it) to Japan Nakahama Manjiro (‘John Manjiro’) Ranald MacDonald iv. v vi James Hepburn Sakamoto Ryoma Fukuzawa Yukichi vii. Tsuda Umeko viii. Soseki Natsume ix. The Kanru Maru Expedition x. The Iwakura Mission 3 b. viii From Individual to Mass Contact with English - Education and Survival Figure 14: Japanese print with mix of western and ukiyo-e styles displaying the destruction of a Russian ship. 3bix. 3b x Generational Change in Contact with English Generational Change in Contact with English through English Education Figure 16: Kyoto Office of the Society for the Romanisation of the Japanese Script Table 6: Generational Approaches over Time to Contact with English through Learning 3 b xi. Contact with (and Use of) English through the Japanese Writing System Table 7: List of Japanese Movies Titles including Katakana Script in the Kinema Junpo Magazine) 3 b.xii iv Wi der and Deeper Contact with English up to the Present. i. World War 2 – early 1950s ii. 1952 to 1970 iii. 1960s to late 1980s iv. Early 1980s onwards, with Spoken English v. Early 21st Century Onwards: Contact with and Use of English in Written Text and Media Summary of Lecture 3 – Section 3b Task 6: Task 7: Timeline of CONTACT with English in Japan Mapping the Extent of CONTACT with English in Japan 3c. History of English in Japan 3 – Use of English 3c. 3c. i. 3c. ii. 3c.iii 3c. iv i. ii. iii. 3c. v Use of English in Japan. The First English Used in Japan. New Uses for English in a New Age – translation and learning English with a purpose. Japanese Going Abroad to Learn, People from Abroad to Teach and English Use of English Beyond Translation. Newspapers English in Schools A Culture of English Developing The Kinds of English being Used: on the Continuum model Figure 15: Use of English in Japan up to mid-20th Century on the English in Japan Continuum 3c. vi A comment on Use of English Affecting Japanese Used Figure 16: Explanation of Mixed Japanese and English Expressions (国際社会コミュニケ ーション kokusaishakaikomyunike-shon) in Context 3c. vii Spoken Language in Visual and Audio Media affecting Use of English in Japan i. Electronic Media ii. Translation Software and Programs iii. Online Electronic Media iv. Non-Email Online Communication v. Academic and Intellectual Circles vi. Names of companies, corporate image vii. School and Other Education. xi. International Travel 3c. viii Use of English Now and in the Future Summary of Lecture 3.Section 3c v Summary of Lecture 3 as two aspects of the history of English in Japan Task 8: Task 9: Mapping the Extent of USE of English in Japan Timeline of USE of English in Japan 4. English in Japan and Japanese Writing Systems 4 a. i Japanese Writing Systems in which English Occurs Kanji Hirgana i. ii. Figure 17: Excerpt from Ranald MacDonald’s rendering of Japanese words in into English from his notebook. iii. iv. v. 4 a. ii Katakana Romaji Other Scripts English and Japanese in Romaji and Katakana Summary of Section 4a. 4 b. 4 b. i Katakana Japanese, Katakana, English (and other languages) 4 b. ii Figure 18: Types and Usages of Katakana. How English Gets Mixed with Japanese Example Text 7: Ad text for a One Piece wanted poster event in Osaka in 2013. Example Text 8. One Piece news. Figure 19: Analysis of Advertisement-Article Feature – ‘James Bond’ Task 10: English or Japanese? Task 11: Katakana English and Katakana Japanese 4 b. iii Katakana and Phonemics of English (and Other Languages) Figure 20: Source Kanji Characters for Hiragana Figure 21: Source Kanji Characters for Katakana Figure 22: New ‘Innovative’ Katakana variations entering Usage in Japanese since the early 19th Century Figure 23: New katakana variations entering usage in Japan since the mid 20th Century Figure 24: Differences in English and Japanese Phonemics if Encoded as Katakana. 4 b. iv. Comments and Warning about Learning Katakana, Romaji, English, Japlish and English in Japan 4 c. i Kana and Romaji Variations, Japanese and English Pronunciation 4 c ii Task 12: Table 9: Comparisons of Differences in 3 Japanese Romaji Systems Japanese, Different Romaji Systems and English: a comment Using Romaji and Using Roman Script in an English Language Context Summary of Sections 4 b and c Task 13: Romaji for Japanese and Romaji for English in Japan vi 5. Expressing in Japanese or in English in Japan: colour and sense 5a. Expressing in Japanese or in English – how and why Impression Context, including purpose Taboos Convenience i. ii. iii. iv. Figure 25: Why and How English is Used in Expressions As and With Japanese Figure 26: How Words and Expressions are Made in Japanese) 5 b. Colour 5 b. i What colours are there in Japan? Table 10: Range of Colours and Frequency of Mention by Number of Japanese Respondents Table 11: Range of Colours and Frequency of Mention by Percentages of Japanese Respondents Table 12: Range of Colours and Frequency of Mention by Age Group of Japanese Respondents Task 14: Research on Telling Colours 5 b. ii 5 b. iii How New Ways of Telling Colour may have Developed Colour, Sense and a Culture of English: a comment Summary of Sections 5a & 5b 5c 5c i. 5c ii Sense A Model to Explain the Language Choice Process. Language Amorphized and Language Changed Figure 27: A Model of Cognitive Processes Leading towards Use of Words taken Partly or Wholly from English or Other Languages and Used in Japanese Figure 28: Schematics and Context for Cognifying pa-puru and pa-puringu 5 c. iv Amorphization of ‘Purple’: a comment. Summary of Section 5c Summary of Lecture 5 Task 16: Linear Process of Language being Taken from English, Mixing with Japanese and Changed Changes in English Used with Japanese in Japan - review 6 Learning English in Japan 6a. 6ai 6aii 6aiii Three Basic Types of learning Institutionalized Learning Uninstitutionalized Learning Unintentionally Learning English Task 15: Summary of Lecture 6 vii Task 17*: Your Learning English in Japan 7 Attitudes to English in Japan 7a 7b 7bi 7bii 7biii 7biv 7bv 7bvi 7bvii 7c Generated Attitudes Shock English Shock! English Redressed Dealing with English Overly Focused on English Form. Antipathy Embracing English English as Tool Attitudes of People from English-Language Cultures to English in Japan Summary of Lecture 7 Task 18*: Task 19: Your Attitudes to English in Japan You and Your English in Japan Task 20: Terms from the Glossary English in Japan - GLOSSARY References viii English in Japan Preface These lectures were originally prepared for a course called Japanese-European (or Japanese-Western’) Inter-Cultural Communication. They are a part of a longer series of lectures under the thematic umbrella, English as a European Language in the World, of which part relates to English (as a European Language, or as a non-European language) in Japan. It presents key themes from the current lectures in global terms as one case of English as a European Language occurring somewhere in the world – in this case Japan. But the case of Japan can also be looked at separately For English as a European Language in the World, the choice of English as a vehicle in which to pass through a Japanese-European intercultural communication field is a product of the view that English is an epitomic product of European culture. This means that to an extent, different influences from European culture, from different parts of Europe are evident in English. This raises a question: to what extent is English a nexus of European culture or European languages? Answering this question just now is counter-productive, as it distracts from the context of Japan in which the English language has become textually relevant in far more ways and in far more contexts than most people may imagine. Relevant as a more general world cultural phenomenon that becomes has ingrained in the general language culture of Japan. As one of the Germanic group of languages in the Indo-European family, English is the only one which has become so syntactically regularized and lexically convergent with roots in languages across the geographical and cultural north and south of Europe – predominantly Latin, French, German (plus a strong case for syntactic influence from British Celtic Languages (in a book about the origins of English, John 1. Language as McWhorter (2008) actually mentions coincidental similarities in Japanese, communication but denies possibilities for cross-fertilisation from English in the primal mode stages of the development of English over a thousand years ago). In this sense English certainly is representative of Europe. And language certainly is a key element of a culture, which can be seen in two ways: 1. language as mode and medium for communication of ideas, information and intention. 2. language as cultural artifact, most commonly apparent and observable as Text. (with a capital ‘T’ refers to the concept or generic linguistic or discursive phenomenon; a ‘text’-with-with-a-small-’t’ is the tangible quantifiable object) It is from both of these aspects which English in Japan shall be considered and discussed in these lectures, with regular reference to the forms taken by English in Japan. English is a European language certainly, but is that all? Certainly English 1 2. Language as English as cultural artefact, cultural artefact observable as Text sourced from – ‘Text’ as concept Europe, but no or phenomenon; longer a ‘text/s’ as tangible European quantifiable object phenomenon. Thus, as a cultural phenomenon occurring in Japan too, there can be ‘English’ texts as cultural artefacts. English in Japan is in North America, which is not Europe, so is the culture in North America European? No, not so simple as that. Is English then, say, a Western hemisphere cultural phenomenon? Arguable, but English occurs in India too, where there are more speakers of the language than in North America and Britain combined. So is India a European culture? Certainly not, but certain aspects of the political institutions, media, sport and other aspects of the culture do seem Anglophile, while a greater proportion do remain more indigenously Indian. Similarly with Singapore, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, and quite a few places in Africa and Asia, even maybe in places like Holland or Switzerland. Again not so simple. Still, these lectures are about English in Japan. But the language and the culture in Japan are visibly Japanese – and nobody can deny that. However, English does occur in Japan – and in this sense perhaps it is a way in which European/Western cultural influence occurs in Japan. The view in these lectures is that English reflects less how European/Western culture occurs in Japan than how Japanese culture and Japanese people have encountered such cultural influences, have responded to them, and the effects that these events and processes have had. Certainly English occurs in Japan (as it occurs in most parts of the world). How, where and when it has occurred, with and by whom, the form it takes – texts – and what happens to the English in Japan are sub-themes. Another aspect is the extent to which there is an identifiable distinct variety of English in Japan, and just what that may be. Before these can be considered there is a lot to cover, a lot of background to fill. 2 English in Japan 0.0 Introduction This series of lectures was going to be called ‘Japanese English, but I changed my mind. One reason was that I found a book called Japanese English by James Stanlaw (2004). After reading the book I began thinking that Japanese English sometimes seems like English in other places, but also sometimes doesn’t seem like English at all. Also some people in Japan use only English (just like other people use only Japanese). One final point is that whatever language people in Japan use, there is always English all around in so many places in Japan. In some senses, Nobuyuki Honna (2008) is correct to claim that English is a Japanese language – ie. a language of and in the culture, a language of Japan, a language in Japan,. Another writer, Koscielecki (2000) has also pointed out, Although the English language in Japan is made functionally suitable for some domains using exoglossic norm-providing varieties, Japanese speakers do not codify all their experiences through this medium in the Japanese context. It is not common for the Japanese speakers to use English for communication among themselves. English in Japan has not developed any particular features which would qualify it as an established variety. Therefore, we should refrain using the designation "Japanese English". To do otherwise, we would need some data which would identify and characterize what constitutes "Japanese English". What this means is that people in Japan can use English or draw things from English to say what they want to say, but they don’t actually use only English to communicate with each other. One limitation with this idea is that the same can be said for other languages too. But Koscielecki interestingly ‘English in Japan’ agrees with my idea that ‘Japanese English’ is a bit of a misnomer – or and Japanese means the wrong thing - even if she has different reasons from me. She English are says basically that ‘Japanese English’ needs to be more substantial in separate concepts. order to get data to investigate, and to be able to actually identify what it ‘English in Japan’ really is. If Koscielecki thinks that there is not enough English in includes ‘Japanese ‘Japanese English’, another researcher in Japan, Morizumi Mamoru English’, as long as (2009) gives a lot of different evidence trying to show that there is it occurs in a enough, distinct, language forms in Japanese English for it to be Japanese cultural considered a separate variety of English. zone. But there is another aspect of English in Japan: there are many different things which are actually English or which are drawn from English (and other languages) in Japan, which occur in Japanese language and in texts found in Japanese culture. Therefore it is not just communication in Japan using English language which is the subject here. I consider Use of English a lot here - how it is used and what English is used. In this way I hope to make clear a lot of the different forms taken and influences had by English in Japan. 3 English in Japan I also remember that regarding much of the English in Japan, both Japanese people and also non-Japanese people have to deal with it (for instance English-speaking ‘gaijin’). This means that there is more than one way to consider English in Japan. It is within this milieu that part of my job has been to teach English to people who probably will use English in Japan at some stage. 0.1 Outline In these lectures, first a field of inquiry is established and background to the field presented. Then, the following lectures focus on just what ‘English in Japan’ is, a history of contact with and also use of English in Japan is presented before examining the relationship between English and writing systems used in Japan. Following that, lexical and semantic aspects are examined, specifically focusing on fields of colour, sense and experience. Finally people’s attitudes to English in Japan and also learning English in Japan are discussed and categorized. 4 English in Japan 1. ‘English in Japan’ or ‘Japanese English’ - or what? 1 a. i. Outline This section starts with some clarification of what I mean by ‘English in Japan’. I do this by expanding on this notion in conjunction with the notion of ‘Japanese English’. In the process, some contextual aspects such how English as a world language relate to English in Japan (or to Japanese English which may also include what some people call ‘Japlish’, dealt with more in a later lecture). This ends with an attempt to establish a field of inquiry here. I do this by answering the question: Japanese English, English in Japan, or what? 1 a. ii. Rationale Why do all this? Well, let’s start with the concept of ‘English as a world language’ (there is actually a journal called World Englishes, that also has this expression, ‘English as a world language’ as a subtitle on its inside cover). Soon it becomes pretty clear that people who speak English around the world do not all speak the same. SO, English varies – there are varieties of English. No surprises there. One other thing though, with the idea of ‘varieties of English’ comes another idea – Englishes as a countable noun, that there is more than one English (in the world). Is there a Japanese English? I think there is. So, is that the English in Japan? Well, I think it is just one of them. 1 a. iii. Japanese English, English in Japan and the Inner/Outer/Extending Circle Model of World Englishes In the 1980s an Indian linguist who spent most of his life at the University of Chicago came up with a simple and convenient way to explain English in the world as being in three circles. This model is still popular because it is very convenient. It is known as Braj Kachru’s (1985, 1992) ‘Three Circles of English’ model of world Englishes (see Figure 1). - Inner circle Englishes include British, Irish, American, New Zealand; - first (maybe ‘middle’) Outer circle includes Indian, Singapore, Nigerian Englishes and other countries where English is a common language for people who speak other languages at home or in their own ethnic proximities; - Extending circles where English is not spoken commonly but may be used as a de facto official language or is commonly taught in schools, like in France, Brazil or the Ivory Coast, or Asian places like China, Bhutan, Guam, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Myanmar. It places Japanese English per se in a distant outer circle. However, a similar model made by the international language school chain, EF (English First) (cited in Masani 2012) places Japanese English in a middle zone rather than extreme outside zone. These models are not fact, just people’s opinions in the end. 5 English in Japan Figure 1: Two Versions of Braj Kachru’s ‘Three Circles Model of World Englishes’. (Sources: Crystal 2002 p 61 (left); Jenkins 2003 p 16 (right)) One problem with these model is that it is based on countries – eg. English spoken by people from a particular country is like such–and-such. Not always right, but not always wrong either. Convenient but not accurate. Problems are that these models do not consider people. Not all people’s knowledge of, use of and contact with English is the same. And not all the times they use or have contact with Kachru’s 3-Circles of English are the same either. The models also ignore how English Model continues English occurs and how it is used inside, say, Japan. to be used because it is To sum up, Braj Kachru’s ‘Three Circles of World Englishes’ Model is too general to give anything besides a rough guide, but that is OK. The problem is when people use these models to determine what a person’s English is like – because it is convenient. Properly done, some kind of English test or assessment is better than looking on a list to see which zone the country on their passport is on. More to the point, an individual is not a country. Ironically though, many people – for instance a Japanese person – would believe that their 6 convenient for ideas about Global English/es. But these presume Native-speaking a center with Japanese English in the Zone. Extending But Circle English in Japan as a concept can include all of these as long as they occur in a Japanese cultureal zone. English in Japan English ability is, say, not good or a long way from some kind of ‘English’ norm just by knowing where their country stands on a list. It is a bit like the literacy and numeracy testing and assessment for which national test results of different countries are compared. Average national scores are listed and people decide how good or how bad the local education system is based on a list of countries where all the tests were quite different anyway. Convenient, sometimes helpful, but certainly not accurate. So, a kid is clever because he or she comes from Singapore? Or a kid from Singapore is less good at English for the same reason? And a kid from that ‘Extending Circle’ country, Japan has no chance?! What about a different kid? Or are all the kids and all the people exactly the same? I don’t think so. I hope the inherent illogic is apparent. Still it is what much government education and language policy around the world and also what is said in the media and by average people. A closer look at better, if less convenient views, is needed and I hope to do that here. Whatever ‘English in Japan’ is, what form it takes, wherever it lies in the world in relation to other Englishes, it is language taught and used by different people in Japan in different contexts and in different ways, and it needs to be considered as such. I say it is ‘language’, not ‘a’ language. Some other ideas about English in Japan can help to answer the question posed in this section’s title, ‘Japanese English’ or ‘English in Japan’ or what? 7 English in Japan 1 bi. Types of English and Users of English in Japan. One time I did some easy research by taking a few different books about English in the world and comparing their contents pages. Unsurprisingly most had a history section and a modern section which included chapters about English in some big and rich countries (India, China), and some chapters about some regions (Africa, Asia). Each book did have a chapter about Japanese English. Like, that is the end of discussion? No, it is not. 1 b. i. Defining Types of English in Japan Almost everyone who writes about English in Japan presumes some kind of Japanese variety of English. Almost everyone? Well, I don’t. Anyway, it is necessary to consider the English-in-Japan-is-some-kind-of-Japanese-English idea. And as I tried to show by criticizing the Three Circles of English model as being a bit too convenient, because using countries to describe languages in them does not really work, let’s say that a few people also think that there can be more than just one kind of, say, Japanese variety of English. One of these is by Andy Kirkpatrick (2008). In 2008 he saw two types of English in Japan (though his thinking has moved along a bit to where he thinks less about English as a language with form than English as part of a way people can communicate in a larger area, such as South East Asia). Anyway, his ideas in 2008 are from a book about English in the world, one of those with a section especially about Japanese English. But he sees two sides to it, or two types. Two types is more useful than thinking about just one Japanese English: - an “institutionalised variety based on an American native speaker model (p 192. Italics mine); and also - an internalized system which becomes apparent when Japanese people start creating their own language forms which are ostensibly Japanese’ but are based on English, which come across as a kind of creative process (Kirkpatrick 2008 p 193 (following Stanlaw 2004)). Kirkpatrick thinks that there is, like, an official English (American-style) and also people’s own English which they make up themselves and which uses some Japanese language rules. Nobuyuki Honna (2008) has a similar model. Honna was an adviser to the Japanese government about English education and also a president of an association of researchers in intercultural communication. He points just to ‘American English’ which would correlate with a standard variety or what Kirkpatrick calls ‘institutionalized’. Honna’s model is actually about English teaching. This is useful because what people teach is what people think they should know. This model is reproduced in Figure 2 below. There is some merit in Honna’s model, especially if the history of English in Japan is considered (done in some detail in a later near the middle of the book). 8 English in Japan Japan’s ELT Model (Present, Unrealistic) Input Students Program Output Expectation American English American English Speakers Japan’s ELT Model (Modified, Realistic) Input Students Program Output Expectation American English Japanese English Speakers Figure 2: Unrealistic and Realistic .English Language Teaching Models in Japan (Source: Honna, 2008. pp 146, 154) An interesting feature of Honna’s model is the gap between what people think English should be (American) and what it is (Japanese). Honna thinks that it is OK if some kind of ‘Japanese’ English version exists. He is not the only expert-cum-government policy adviser in Japan to have this idea. A similar, high-up Professor Emeritus from Osaka University and one-time head of a big association of English teachers in Japan (JACET), Mamoru Morizumi, goes as far as thinking about what it means to be Japanese in relation to the type of English that teachers are made to teach (www.zoominfo.com). Morizumi (2009) has his own ideas about a Japanese variety of English as an international auxiliary language and his description is more detailed than most and is compared with others soon. Neither Morizumi nor Honna got to where they are by staying outside of the system nor by sucking up the system and saying ‘yes’ all the time. If they are saying that there is something a bit off about the institutionalized view of English in Japan, then we really should keep our eyes open to other views. In this way, Kirkpatrick’s institutionalized variety/internalized system dichotomy – like a double-model - is useful, and I use it as a starting point for my own thinking. However it is a bit simplistic: for a start, it does not take into account all the people who use English in Japan. ‘All’ the people includes a large number of non-Japanese people and quite a few Japanese people who are sufficiently bi-cultural and bi-lingual. This point is expanded on in the next section. Honna, who has been an adviser to the Japanese government about English language and English education, seems just to tell what he sees: what people want to believe about English (not real) and also what is (is real). But he is right about something – people who come from Japanese language culture have to start with People usually do what they have got if they want to get any kind of foreign language – not distinguish all the Japanese-speaking people have got Japanese, and probably between ‘English in an education of English done by comparing with and translating into Japan’ and Japanese. This is one reason why it is logical and common sense that ‘Japanese English’. people in Japan sound ‘Japanese’ if they speak English. However, But what is ‘Japanese’? Well, like ‘English’, it is an adjective, and that is all. ‘Japanese’ – and ‘English’ – are ambiguous. Maybe they 9 people some and institutions distinguish between what it is and what it should be. English in Japan describes people, maybe they are about the language, or even the culture. Saying just ‘Japanese’ is a very common, non-specific way to talk about things in Japan. So, I hope you can see that I am using the expression ‘~ in Japan’ a lot. It means that I have to specify what I am talking about and then locate it inside a zone labeled ‘Japan’ which usually is within the geographical area or political borders on a map (but not always). Japan is easy, because it is an island country. Try the same approach with ‘Chinese’ and ‘China’ and you won’t get far. And England is an island? Not exactly – it is part of an island, Britain (and I am not going to start talking about North America, Australasia, Africa, and so on). So, as far as English occurring in particular places in the world goes, Japan should be simple. But it is not that simple. Here is why: not everybody in the place is the same. Many, certainly most are similar, but not everybody. The similarity is why people try to identify a certain ‘Japanese’ variety of English, like Morizumi. But there are two problems, one relating to people, and the other relating to Japanese language culture itself. These two things are the primary themes in this book. 1 b. ii. Some Users of English in Japan: a couple of problems with the ‘institutionalized variety’/’internalized system’ dichotomy, and ‘speakers’ Focussing on English in Japan per se, there is some validity in Kirkpatrick’s typology of English, and the second type is considered extensively in the second half of this chapter. But Kirkpatrick’s typology is limited: it ignores the official and institutionalised English used in certain large companies, government departments and other institutions. For example, when I was applying for a visa extension soon I had to deal with forms written bilingually, in Japanese and English and I actually had the choice of using either language (though I am sure the immigration officer would have preferred even my own poor Japanese). In this sense English is at least a de facto official language in Japan, but it is under Japanese. Also, these points need to be considered: about English in Japan which is used, - when people from English language cultures or who prefer English communicate among themselves; - when English users communicate with Japanese people who do Different have different levels of ability in English communication (from almost nothing to expert); and of course also English, - the English used by Japanese people when communicating with different non-Japanese speakers – because it is more convenient or whatever types of different people using English levels of English and English mixed with other languages, all make Just now I did not use the expression, ‘English speaker’. What is an ‘English speaker’? It is another of those strange presumptions like with Braj Khachru’s Three Circles of English model. The type of person who is often called an ‘English speaker’ is not just someone 10 English in Japan complex. And talking about just ‘speakers’ is a bit narrow because English is also used for writing and online. ‘Users’ is better. English in Japan who ‘speaks’, but also who writes or does English online or with computers like with video games. ‘Speaker’, then, is another traditional, convenient expression which is not logical when more usually people are writing all the time. I prefer a word like ‘user’, which is a bit better because speaking, writing or mixing these two like you can online are all use of language, including English in Japan. This point becomes a whole lot clearer when ‘Use of English’ in Japan is examined in a whole later chapter. 1 b. iii. The Need to Consider as many Types of English as Possible Just like there are more ways to use English in Japan than just speaking, there are more than one type or style of English used in Japan! To consider ‘English in Japan’, one must consider as many types and variations of English as possible, not just the generally apparent types. If I encounter any English here in Japan, or in any Japanese language community (or what linguists call a ‘speech community’), I want to be able to account for it. This is what I wish to try to do in these lectures. So, if you are finding some new and different views here, there is a way for you to see what I am getting at: Try to think of as many adjectives as possible to describe your own English. An example, well, for me, my English is • • • • • • • • • really good, probably expert, native-speaker, educated – because I have been hanging around schools and universities for about 30 years – maybe I seem like a teacher, because I am one probably a bit male-style, probably a bit older-sounding, or old fahioned perhaps seeming like a mix of Australian, British and Japanese style too, because I have been in those places and I have been around people from those places for a long time). I do things in English online but only when I need to, so I don’t know so much of the styles etc. in modern electronic media. I am used to speaking and writing English in a slower or easier way for people who don’t use English as much as I do, but of course I do not know all the different styles or varieties of English in the world so much, except for British and Australasian Try this yourself, a list of adjectives and/or a list of examples about your own English. And my English is in Japan currently, yet it is scarcely Japanese English. So, please do not think of just countries when you describe anybody’s English – that just seems too simple, too narrow and too naive Summary of Section 1 b 11 English in Japan There are different varieties of English in Japan, including internalized varieties – for instance how people naturally speak – and ‘institutionalized’ varieties. But there are other varieties too, such as when Japanese speak with non-Japanese – a kind of simplified, less natural language. There are also non-Japanese people who are English speakers, who may speak just English (or other languages) with each other 12 English in Japan Task 1: How you see your English in Japan now Well, if I ask you, could you tell me about your English, or describe it? How would you describe it? Please think of some adjectives to describe your own English in Japan (Advice: well, for me, my English is really good, probably expert, native-speaker, educated, probably a bit male-style, probably a bit older-style, perhaps a mix of Australian, British and Japanese style too. Please do not think of just countries when you describe anybody’s English – that just seems too simple, too narrow and too naive) ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Give some examples of your own English in Japan. (ie what you have said or written in English) Anything in your English which could make it sound or look like non-standard English. Give examples in the space below (Hint: look in Table 1 in the next section) 13 English in Japan 1 c. English in Japan and English as a World Language 1 c. i English is Not the only World Language A further problem comes back to the notion of English as a world language: there are other ‘world languages’. A simple understanding of the term world language is any language which is used both in its base language culture or language (ie ‘speech’) community, and also outside of it. Yet, to be realistic, there would need to be extensive use of such a language for it to be realistically considered a major world language. Other languages in the world are used in Japan now (Chinese and Korean are the most visible in the early 21st.century). Other languages have influenced Japan in the past and continue to influence Japanese language now. I examine this point later in order to argue that English is just one of the ‘world languages’ used in Japan which has affected Japan and Japanese. As such, of course English is significant. But in the history of Japan and Japanese maybe not the most significant. Rather I think about Chinese with kanji 1 ideographic script and the on/kun dichotomy in Japanese semantics come to mind. A Japanese variety of English has identifiable features. Japanese English may not be understandable to everybody no but variety of English is 1 c. ii. Japanese English as ‘a World English’? In an article a couple of years ago, a Japanese professor, Mamoru Morizumi (2009) tried to show how Japanese English could be seen or understandable used as an “International Auxilliary Language” (p 73, 76) and to see how similar it was to core features of world lingua franca English. One issue he was interested in if or how much Japanese English could be taught and used and be acceptable and understandable to people outside of Japan – that is, does Japanese English need to be changed for other people to understand it? feature of Japanese to everybody. Also, not every English appears in every English text in Japan. Morizumi eventually concludes that it is difficult for Japanese-style English to be fully understandable, one problem being local Japanese words and also pragmatics – ie. people using or saying things English in the same way they would use or say things in Japanese. But he sees some encouraging points made in some Japanese school teaching materials, and he calls for much more “polymodel” (pp 75-76) attitude to English. He thinks that Japanese-style English should be accepted and even taught if it can have some core features similar to what other varieties of English in the world have. 1 Japanese script based on Chinese logographic script (Halliday 1985 pp 25-26, Barton 1994). Barton (pp 96-97) also notes that Japanese written text may have up to 4 scripts at one time – kanji, hiragana, katakana and Roman script (romaji)), the use and significance of these scripts is examined in a later lecture (on ‘English and Writing Systems in Japan’) 14 English in Japan This idea of core English features comes from Jennifer Jenkins, who is a strong supporter of English as lingua franca (ELF). She (and a few others including me) think that different varieties of English are just as good as others if people can use English and be understood by others. She does not agree with people having a standard native (British or American) as the main standard that everybody needs to follow. This is different from the idea that everyone needs to speak like a British or American native speaker. But she has her idea of core features of English that also originally come from native English standards (Jenkins 2009 pp 146-148). Table 1 lists some things which people from places in the Extending Circle of English which are not features of standard native English but which maybe are still understandable, from Jenkins (2009, whose list actually comes from her colleague Barbara Seidlhofer who has been helping to make a big world English lingua franca corpus (ie. collection of words, etc.) at the University of Vienna). Jenkins’ core also lists some features which are more specifically Japanese, from Morizumi (2009). Table 1 also shows some things which people may or may not understand outside of Japan. 15 English in Japan Jenkins (2000, 2009) citing Seidlhofer – an ELF Core Lexico-gram matical features Morizumi (2009) Other sources  Morizumi warns of “turmoil” (p  Contexts, nuance & ways to use English  Dropping 3rd person ‘s’, like He eats cake as He eat cake  Confusing ‘who’ and ‘which’  Leaving out or mistaking ‘a’ and ‘the’  Tag question form confusion, like, She is pretty, isn’t she? – Yes, she is., as She is pretty, isn’t it? – No, she is.  Unnecessary prepositions, like in Go to home  Using general verbs like ‘do’, ‘get’, ‘make’, ‘put’, ‘take’’  Making difficult noun clauses with ‘that’, like I want to meet my sister as I want that I meet my sister..’  Too exact or explicit, like How long? as How long time?; or black as 77) advising against Japanese words in Japanese old fashioned or different S+O+V grammar order in from original English use, like dandy as English & adding kana to handsome male in Japanese but gay or writing system woman-like appearance in English Literal  Some Japanese words entering English, like tsunami  Japanese words made from English but not the same, like black colour retractable pencil as sharp pen  Use of words and expressions translation of Japanese words & idiom to English confusing, like meet friends as play with friends (from asobu); also  Using English word+suru/naru, like receive catch as get+suru  Clipping and cutting English words, like remote control as remokon & department store as depa-to often not being English-like Phonemics & phonology  Saying ‘p’ instead of ‘f’  Problems with ‘th’ like in the and also in three, also ‘l’ as in lovely  ‘t’ & ‘d’ for ‘th’ in three &  Vowel length, like /i/ and /i:/ in ship and sheep  Vowel sound like /ae/ and /e/, like in apple and egg  Schwa, or dropping vowel sounds, like to in 2 to 2 sounding like two t’ though respectively  Interchanging ‘r’ & ‘l’, like hilarious as hiralious two  Leaving sounds out, like probably as probly, and October as Otober  Problems joining consonant sounds, like glasses case as glas seskase 16  Pronouncing each part of complex vowel, like out as  Hesitation, translating or worry about the right form causing slow speaking and long pauses English in Japan  Wordstress, like in a present and to present something a-u-to  Different patterns of Stress for meaning (ie. making voice louder or  Adding vowel to final faster, also pauses) consonant, like out as a-u-to  Flat Wordstress like beautiful  Pitch (ie. voice going up and down) as bju:-chi hu ru not bju: -ti-f-l Other [Jenkins more recently has written about ‘English as a multi-lingua franca’ – language, by this she means that people may and do put in bits from different  Presumptions about  Use of Kunrei (Government – see later) Appropriateness and roman script system is Japanese not communication languages when their interaction or language use is centrally English. This Pragmatics different English phonemics-based points sometimes confusing includes language forms and also styles in different contact zones. By ‘contact’ she means social contact, whereas here when I talk about contact I mean ‘contact with environment’, including social AND cultural environment]  Concern that using English causes Loss of Japanese  People’s personal views and assumptions about English mirror public and institutional views Cultural Identity. Table 1: Some Features of Japanese English Language Forms, Use and People’s Attitudes (Sources: based on Jenkins 2009 and Morizumi 2009) 17 English in Japan If there are problems, of course people can always say ‘What?’ or ‘Could you say that again?’ to check what others say anytime, or check in a dictionary if reading. This is common sense. This is why people not understanding, say, English from Japanese people is actually a less serious problem than people think. From another angle, Stanlaw (2004 p 279) makes just a loose typology of ‘Japanese English’ which is detailed below in Table 2. He is not alone in his thinking – he just draws it together which shows how Japanese English (or English in Japan) is even more multi-faceted than presented so far. Whereas for Morizumi (2009), Japanese English is just an extra (Auxiliary) language, and Jenkins (2009) is interested how English works as lingua franca, Stanlaw (2004) sees Japanese English as different things for different people. Stanlaw’s (2004) comments Other commentators’ views Japanese Japanese English as a variant (ie type) English as of English as a world language ‘a world English’ Morizumi discusses how the forms a Japanese variety of English could become one possible variety of English as an International Auxiliary Japanese like any other country’s variant of English as English with its own idiosyncrasies (ie ‘an’ Asian strange and unique features) though English within the same Outer circles or Extending circles as other Asian Englishes as shown in Figure 1 Braj Kachru, Stanlaw and even Honna locate Language (EIAL) alongside other varieties, but in the end is not optimistic. Japanese English in Asia but geographical reasons are the only convincing ones. Like with European and African Englishes, there is too much linguistic, cultural and historical variation to generalize. An exceptional circumstance is dictionaries of Asian English/es and other corpora (Kachru, Y. & Smith 2008 pp 109-10) Honna, as a strong proponent of English in Japan English as includes “standard RP [Received Japanese Pronunciation like in Britain], loan words has an ecological view: English occurs in Japanes language or the Japanese variety of English” (p culture, making English a language of Japan – a Japanese language. But Honna also prefers 292) Japanese English to have a specific form Table 2: ‘Japanese English’ in Stanlaw’s (2004) and others’ views (Sources: Stanlaw 2004, Honna 2008, Morizumi 2009) In this typology I see Stanlaw simply looking from different perspectives. But the real focus of his book is on the last type: English as a Japanese language. As I mentioned before, I find this too narrow, because it neglects non-Japanese people using English and also Japanese people who are either expert or are deliberately trying to communicate using English. So, in the end, is Japanese English ‘a world English’? Well, yes, of course it is. It has an idiosyncratic form distinct from other Englishes. Japanese English is normally distinguishable from Japanese language form. Morizumi (2009) is perhaps the most appropriate view in this 18 English in Japan sense: while people in Japan can make sense of Japanese English forms, people in other language cultures may not be so adept. This does not discount Japanese English in the world. Yet, we should not forget a realistic assessment that outside Japan in the world other world English varieties are more visible, apparent and used. 1 c. iii. English in Japan as Japanese English: amorphized, or ‘Remade in Japan’? However, Stanlaw finishes his book by discussing one type of English which places his view on common ground with my view – he discusses English “Remade in Japan” (2004, pp 296-98). In summing up this perspective he hopes “.. that the Japanese people are just as adept at linguistic incorporation as they are (p 297) incorporating baths and Argentinian tangos into Japanese culture” Actually, I don’t like the term ‘Remade in Japan’ – it suggests a kind of imitation or copying process, that Japanese people are consciously making something. I prefer to think that English just gets changed somehow – amorphized. By whom and how are separate questions at this point, but they are considered in the next lecture. How has Japanese Rather, until the next lecture it is possible to dwell on the problem of language form. Some forms of Japanese English are listed in Table 1 above. But just now I presented the term amorphized English (or amorphization of English. This is explained in Section 2e). The signature of this process is that when, say, English (or other languages’) items are taken from one culture of English and become used in another there is a tendency for those items to lose something of their original form: lexical (eg vocabulary, expressions), morphological (eg different endings to a word to change its meaning), phonological (spoken form, pronunciation), even syntactic (grammar, word order), and pragmatic (ways in which the language is used as a communication mode).. In a way, they lose their some of their Englishness. English become the way it is? It has become changed, ‘Amorphized’, different at levels: lexical, morphological, phonological, syntactic, and pragmatic. In a way, Japanese English begins to lose its ‘Englishness’. Actual dwelling on language forms is the problem of so much linguistic argument and analysis. What most people forget are pragmatics and other sociolinguistic aspects, many of which are embedded in, say, Japanese appropriate behavioral practice. One example is the topic of silence in spoken communication (though I have seen exceptions). Textbooks about Japanese communication behavior and pragmatics often include silence as a communication tool and one often misunderstood by people outside of the culture. The same books often say that people speaking English and other languages are not silent so much. But that is silly – people are silent for different reasons (eg. confusion, emotion, embarrassment, or they have nothing to say, or it is just not necessary to say anything) – in English and in Japanese. So, in Japan are people required to avoid silence when using English in Japan? Or 19 English in Japan is this requiring them to follow an unwritten rule that using of another language requires people to use appropriate behavioral practices of that language’s culture? My view is a firm ‘No!’ for both questions. These are very chauvinistic presumptions. People can know some (or much) of the customs and culture of another language. But perhaps people cannot know everything – there is always a chance to make a mistake with customs and culture. Such things cannot be found in any dictionary or grammar book.. And actually, knowing customs and culture are quite different from knowing grammar and words. People can only find out about those things if they find out how people use the language. To do that people need to have contact with the language It is for this reason a more ecological, holistic view of English in Japan is attempted in these lectures. As for the question of English ‘remade’ or amorphized in Japan, ‘remade’ ‘No’, as it presumes some conscious or subconscious act of re-making. Rather amorphization – English just becomes changed. It is something a bit more natural or organic. The relevant historical and current processes are examined later. 1 d. ‘Japanese English’ or English in Japan’ or what? - conclusion Japanese English is a variety of English used mostly by people from Japanese language culture, and it may or may not at different times be understandable to people outside of Japan. But of course it is one type of English in Japan. Yet, I wish to avoid categorizing English in Japan. My main reason is because of different contexts, purposes and users of English, not just different types of English in Japan. I suppose I do not even want to put any adjective at all before the noun ‘English’. Actually I am interested in Japan as a culture and as a geographical area. This is the main reason why I prefer call it ‘English in Japan’, a bigger but more interesting and workable field than something simply called ‘Japanese English’. Summary of Sections 1 c & d English is not the only world language used in and influencing Japan. Also, Japanese English is one type of ‘world Englishes’, which can be understood or misunderstood at different times by people outside of Japan. In Japanese culture English somehow gets changed – amorphized. This is one way how different varieties of English occur in Japan. Also, context, person and purpose are factors. To include a variety of Englishes in Japan, the term ‘English in Japan’ is the most useful. Summary of Chapter 1 Rather than thinking about just ‘Japanese English’, we have to remember that there are actually different varieties of English in Japan. Consequently, a broader term, such as ‘English in Japan’ is better 20 English in Japan 2. Is English in Japan Really English or Really Japanese, or what? 2 a. Outline This chapter is long, and probably should be in two or more parts. But it is not – sorry about that! There is some deconstruction of English in Japan, some text analyses and a continuum model that I think canhelp understand what this book is about. It looks at some examples of English in Japan, just to see the types of things I am talking about all through these lectures. This lecture continues discussion of the differences between the concepts ‘English in Japan’ and ‘Japanese English’. It also tries to argue for the ‘English in Japan’ view based on a continuum model which could be used to mark, qualify or describe any kind of English used - spoken or written - by someone in Japan. Further, it considers how different types of English might be understood by people being communicated to, with English, in Japan. The ‘Japlish’ phenomenon is defined and discussed, using example texts which are also analysed using the continuum model. The extent to which Japlish could be pidgin or creole is also addressed, and different linguistic and socio-linguistic views are considered. In the end, 3 answers to the question, ‘Is English in Japan Really English or Really Japanese?’ are given. 2 b i. English in Japan and Japanese English Revisited The book sometimes mentioned in the last lecture (ie Stanlaw 2004) is one of the few books about English in Japan from a cultural perspective. There are other works on Japanese linguistics which consider the influence of English on Japanese from a more applied linguistics angle. But Stanlaw’s book – which is called Japanese English - is one of a series of books on ‘Englishes’ in Asia published by Hong Kong University Press. Stanlaw holds a stronger view than my own: he considers that English in Japan is changed significantly in form, but is still recognizable as English is some way. He thinks that it is still English even if it is used in natural Japanese discourse. This idea is discussed a bit in some early chapters in his book, but recurs at other points too. But basically Stanlaw seems to think that if somebody in Japan says People in Japan have something it is either English or it is not – like black and white. had contact with English Text for about Um – that is a problem, as it becomes clear later in these lectures as we look at a few different contexts (including a couple from Stanlaw’s book itself). Actually I was happy to realise Stanlaw’s view, because my view is quite different, and now nobody can accuse me of just copying or stealing ideas from Stanlaw (2004). I think that there is a lot of grey in between that black and white. 200 years. Much of the English Text has come from outside of Japan, and much has come from inside of Japan. Much but not all of the English in Japan has I tell more of what I think a bit later. First, just to connect with the 21 been English used in Japan, by people from Japan and others. English in Japan last lecture, I finished it by saying a strong ‘No!’ to the idea that English is ‘remade’ in Japan. One reason for this is that language processes are a bit more organic and natural, and I don’t think that anybody is acting consciously to ‘remake’ anything. This lies in part in what Kirkpatrick (2008) and Honna (2008) variously see as an ‘internalized system’ by which English gets changed as it becomes used by people in Japan. The other point is that there are different forms which English takes on (if of course English is an animate or live phenomenon). I introduced also a term, amorphization meaning something like ‘becomes changed’. I think that English is amorphized in the language culture in Japan to different extents in different contexts with different people using the language. This lecture deals a lot with this idea, and I even try to develop a continuum model to show how this amorphization of English happens. Two more points are that I am more interested in English in Japan – any English, not just Japanese English, which I also include in my model. Also, finally, is the need to understand that English is at once used and at the same time can become part of the language environment – as texts and so on. In this sense, English can be seen as something used and also something that people have contact with and can then take in – it can be meaningful, or just part of the colour of the environment with no consequence. This last point of contact with English being distinct from use of English is very important in these lectures, especially regarding the history of English in Japan. The same points are not limited to just English in Japan – the same could be said for, say, Japanese language in Honolulu, or Dutch in South Africa. We should not forget that English in Japan is just a case of English being transplanted somewhere in the world or people somewhere using English because it is practical, convenient or they are being forced to use it. 2 b. ii. What Happens to English when it Becomes Used With or As Japanese? But let’s get back to Japan and get on with the lecture. One condition Naturally English in that nobody could deny is that English in Japan becomes used with Japan is going to be Japanese discourse – mixed. I believe that once English items – lexical and semantic (ie meaning), syntactical (ie grammar), phonological (ie speaking, pronunciation), genre (ie types of written or spoken language), or pragmatic (ie how the language is used) and discursive (ie what is communicated) – become used in Japanese discourse and even in Japanese cultural contexts, they begin to lose some or much of their quality of ‘Englishness’. In other words, these used together with items from English perhaps become less ‘English’ and more ‘Japanese’. This is explained later. happening Japanese mixed or whatever – not quite English and not quite Japanese, 22 but certainly something – phenomenon Japanese Even though there are problems agreeing with Stanlaw’s opinion, language, culture. a in language English in Japan certainly what he says and much of his evidence and elaboration is thought- provoking and should be considered. Mainly this is because he extensively considers discursive and cultural aspects of language. He is like a language anthropologist in a way. I believe that his view is more useful than an opposite, more strictly linguistic perspective because it considers other things besides just language forms 2 c. Non-Japanese (language) in Japan: communicating This part of the lecture has a weird title. This is because I was trying to find a term for languages used in Japan which are not Japanese. I am trying to build a perspective of looking at language use in Japan but not include Japanese. It is very difficult – how can people use language to communicate in Japan at all if they do not use Japanese? Well, actually it is possible. You probably have had some experience hearing, reading or even using some other language in Japan. If you wish, you can try to remember now and note down some details in Task 2 below. Well, for example, • I am doing this lecture in Japan, but not in Japanese. • My friend Tokiko (not her real name) helps people at the Kyoto International Tourist Information Center often not speaking in Japanese, giving them English, Italian or Chinese maps. And of course people also do use languages in Japan besides English and Japanese • I saw an old Japanese male journalist interviewing an American politician on TV last week, not in Japanese. Both used a kind of strange New York-sounding English • Also, at a yakiniku restaurant near my university, the wife talks to the husband in the kitchen in a secret language, because he never learned Japanese – which language? – I don’t know, but it is not Japanese and it is not English! Maybe Korean! Anyway, I hope you can now see that non-Japanese communication does occur in Japan. If such communication occurs using English, then we have our first type of ‘English in Japan’: disparate English: the English in Japan which is separate from and not connected to any Japanese (language) in Japan. 23 English in Japan NOT using Japanese to communicate in Japan Task 2: (Hint: look at Section 2c, or any other part of the materials for examples) Please try to think of people in Japan who communicate but do not use Japanese. Try to think of 2 or 3 types. Also, think of where, when and why they communicate, and also the types of things they say. (Advice: NOT something TOO SIMPLE, like just saying ‘Kami sa hamni da!’ in a Korean yakiniku restaurant. Something meaningful please!) Put details in the table below. Also, talk about it with other people. Which language? What the people say? (eg text, words,) Who? Where/When? Why use that language? Summary of Sections 2 a, b & c When English gets used together with Japanese, it loses some of its ‘Englishness’. Still, in some everyday situations, even Japanese people use only English with no Japanese whatsoever. This is a kind of disparate English. 24 English in Japan 2 d. English in Japan Amorphized: a continuum from dispirate English to Wasei Eigo becoming more ‘Japanese’ 2 d. i. Disparate English ‘English in Japan’ at its most basic is any English-language discourse – from single word items upwards - which occurs in Japan. Disparate English is English-only, separate from Japanese. Disparate means separate, distinct, unrelated. For example the situations mentioned in the last section, at the International Tourist Some English Information Center in Kyoto, and the Japanese journalist’s interview on in Japan is TV. In these two situations, English-only, • • there is communication only through the medium of English, and also there is no Japanese at all. with no apparent connection The key reason is simple: one or more of the people in these communication events does not know any Japanese. In other words, one or more of these people is not part of any Japanese language community (or sometimes called ‘speech community’). This idea of with Japanese language. This is dispirate. language community will be discussed much later, but I think it does need to be mentioned now. However, if communication occurs in English, then of course all the people in these communication events are members of an English language community. Not just a group of foreigners who know know Japanese and need to use English as lingua franca among themselves, but also some workplaces, some schools and English classes in Japan are English-only. In theory this seems very normal. However, in Japan surrounded by Japanese cultural artefacts like food, clothes, shops, people, events, media and so on, it can become pretty difficult not to refer to Japan or the local environment. That all becomes part of the reality in the context of even dispirit English in Japan – it becomes harder to not use any local words or expressions. This is one of the problems with this idea of Dispirate English – is there a point when local ‘Japanese’ words would lose their ‘Japaneseness’ and become ‘English’? Indeed what counts as ‘English’ anyway? 2 d. ii. English in Japan Losing its ‘Englishness’ Just now I suggested that any local Japanese words used in a dispirate English use context might lose their ‘Japaneseness’. Similarly, I have already mentioned my view that when English language items (ie words, expressions, etc.) are used together with Japanese or are somehow mixed together with Japanese or even changed into Japanese form, then they lose their ‘Englishness’ quality and get more of a ‘Japaneseness’ quality. This could be seen as what happens as we go along from one end of the continuum. A continuum is like a line – you can see it later, in Figure 6 in theSection 2e. In this case the 25 English in Japan line has disparate English at one end. This English of course would have its full integrity of ‘Englishness’ without any ‘Japaneseness’. Then, moving along the line, ‘Japaneseness’ may occur, but certainly some ‘Englishness’ begins to be lost. This is partly due to contexts (ie. who, when, where, why, etc.) beginning to involve Japanese language. This idea of a continuum is shown better below. But the same kind of phenomenon is not unique to just English in Japan – it can happen when any two or more languages begin to be used side-by-side or mixed together, like Latin( ie the language of ancient Rome) with English for example, described below in Figure 3 and also compared with English with Japanese. 2 d. iii. Wasei Eigo – English mixed with Japanese, becoming Japanese. ‘Wasei eigo’ 和製()英語 わせいえいご is what people here call English used together with Japanese language. Usually words, sometimes expressions from English – that are used locally in Japan, either with a different pronunciation, altered meaning, sometimes different grammar, or all of these. This is a bit different from ‘Japlish’ (discussed later) which is more about people intending to use English but having to include some Japanese language with it. People who use wasei eigo have Japanese more on their minds than English. Normally they are written in katakana script (Lecture 4 is about that). Most people say that it is just wrong English. But most people forget that dictionaries in Japan are full of these items – why? The easy answer is because people who make the dictionaries think that wasei eigo is Japanese. Are there any lists of wasei eigo? Yes, lots! Most lists are wasei eigo – English, though some are wasei eigo – Japanese. The wasei eigo phenomenon is a good example of how hard it can be to separate English and Japanese (Chinese and Korean, French, German, Malay, Russian have similar problems). Therefore, an alternative way to understand distinction between, say, English and Japanese in Japan is a good idea. Part of my idea explained just now is to take away the idea of distinctiveness, and look at Wasei eigo is overlap, something like this: a good example of English mixed with Japanese language • • • • • • But this is too simplistic: these other things matter too - and pronunciation (phonemics) becoming lexical form (spelling, etc.) less ‘English’ syntax (grammar, how it is used) and more semantic significance (meaning) ‘Japanese pragmatic and semiotic significance (ie. if choosing to use wasei eigo, does the choice mean anything?) plus of course context (how, where and when and why it is used unit of text (ie. how much language – just one word or a larger text) – 26 English in Japan Whatever wasei eigo is, it is a result of some mixed language forms – maybe even complete English words with Japanese-style pronunciation. This happens with other languages, for instance English and Latin as shown in Figure 3. How the same process might similarly be seen with English in Japan is also shown. Latin-in-English＊ i. English in Japan Disparate Latin Disparate English [Unlikely to occur due to infrequent use of Latin in [Likely to occur as spoken or written discourse] modern contexts] ii. Latin items used in English ‘eg’ (exemplor gratis – ‘free example’) English items used in Japanese - サザーン オールスターズ (Saza-n O-rusuta- zu ‘Southern non sequitur (‘(it does) not follow’). All Stars’)(Stanlaw 2004 p 102) [Closer to a ‘disparate Latin’ occurring in English [Due to use of different script, such items normally do not appear discourse such as in law or academic fields] visually as English, but in Roman script they do][Called Wasei Eigo – or ‘made-in-Japan English’; & close to ‘disparate English’] iii Latin words amorphized (ie close to or from the English words amorphized as and/or mixed with Japanese original) as English: アラフォー (arafo- ‘around forty) (Sukapa-!Days 2009 p 1) liber, libris (book) for library 国際コミュニケーション 国際コミ (kokusai monstrare (to show or demonstrate) for ‘demonstrate’ komyunike-shon – koku komi‘. international communication’) publicum (the public or (for/of the) people) for ‘the ゲットする (getto suru ‘to get, catch, obtain’) public’ or ‘publication’ スマホ (sumaho ‘smart phone’ - ホ /ho/ in place of /fo/) [‘Anglicized’ Latin] [Mixed English and Japanese, but identified as Japanese due to being Wasei Eigo] iv Grammar Grammar prepositions coming before a noun: in (in, on, into, [Syntactical forms in English and Japanese coincidentally similar onto) like in in casa meaning ‘in (the) home’ or ‘in rather than amorphized] Latin! functional grammar of loanwords in Japanese, eg adjective or other [Grammar harder to classify due to extensive qualifier +な na＋noun variation between Latin and English (eg. eg グロテスク な noun+adjective in English & adjective+noun in Latin movie’) Eg. Liber anticus (book old (a very) old book), & Otherwise extensive variation from English (eg. Subj+Objct+Vb - Subject + Object+Vb in Latin – 犬は肉を食べます inu ha niku wo tabemasu. Dogs (subj) meat Canes carne edent. Dogs (subj) meat (obj) eat (vb). – (obj) eat (vb) - compared to subj.+vb.+obj. in English – compared to subj.+vb.+obj. in English – Dogs eat meat 映画 (gurotesuku na eiga ‘(a) grotesque Dogs eat meat v. Frequent or common English items which are Frequent or common Japanese items which are actually English actually Latin 煙草 (tabako ‘tabacco’) coliseum ((the) Coliseum) [Actually originally a native American word entering both English and status quo ((the) status quo) Japanese probably from Spanish] [Not normally considered in the first instance as Latin [Not normally represented as ‘Non-Japanese’. Limited number of due to high frequency use – some people may think items, frequently nouns, exceptions rather than any particular these are just normal English words pattern] 27 English in Japan Figure 3: Comparisons of Latin usage in English with English usage in relation to Japanese 28 English in Japan In a sense Latin items like expressions (eg. sine qua non,not without (it), (it) is absolutely necessary), in context becomes really a part of English. They have meaning, even if some people don’t know what they mean, and they have a purpose in context, maybe legal or somebody is old-fashioned or showing off how clever they are. Pronunciations of Latin get Anglicized too. Wasei eigo can be like that too in a Japanese language context. Though a general comparison of Latin-English with English-Japanese is permissible, Figure 3 also shows some points where they are not directly comparable. These include written text – English and Latin share similar scripts while Japanese and English do not. Also syntax – Japanese grammar rules and conventions may at times coincide with English but by and large they are quite different. Further, Latin is a dead language used by very few people at all nowadays. It influenced English from perhaps 1,000 years ago (though mostly actually later on, from about 1300). On the other hand, the influence of English on Japanese effectively got underway only in the mid-19th century. 2 d. iv. Amorphized Items from Other Languages in Japanese Also relevant to this last point is of course that items from other languages have entered Japanese. These are commonly called ‘loan-words’. I don’t like this term, mainly because it suggests that one language or the native users of a language own the words and give permission for them to be borrowed. It is closer to the truth that the words are just ‘taken’. A linguistics word is neologism – which sort of means, a new thing written (in that language). In Japanese, these words are called 外来語 がいらいご gairaigo – which has a nuance that the words or expressions just come from another language. In the case of English, Wasei Eigo is a term. 和製英 語わせいえいご Wasei Eigo means ‘Japnese-mixed-with-western-or-at-least-not-Japanese English’. It is not exactly the same as neologism, because often the current meaning has changed from the original meaning in English, and also the pronunciation sound – neologisms tend to remain similar in meaning or the same. The point here is that the cultural behavior in Japan traditionally has been to have contact with things from outside and use them. Then if useful, take and adapt them inside Japanese culture. Words and some other language forms (like writing and also sounds) also. English mixing with Japanese is not the only pair which mix. theory In any languages can be used mix together, but English and Japanese mix more than most. Languages that have mixed more with Japanese than English has include Chinese languages. 2 d v. Chinese Amorphized into Japanese The best examples are from Chinese – most significantly the kanji writing system, and a corpus of Chinese-influenced Kun phonemic reading forms for kanji. Examples of these are easy to find: any Japanese language dictionary or kanji-character book would list the native Japanese On pronunciations and the Chinese influenced Kun pronunciations – for most 29 English in Japan kanjis that there are, and often more than one pronunciation for each. Kanjis for Japanese days of the week are shown in Table 3. However almost every word in Japanese for which there is a kanji shares the multiple On and Kun reading-pronunciation pattern. Japanese form 日曜日 にちよび Nichiyoubi 月曜日 げつようび Getsuyoubi 火曜日 かようび Kayoubi 水曜日 すいようび Suiyoubi 木曜日 もくようび Mokuyoubi 金曜日 きんようび Kinyoubi 土曜日 どようび Doyoubi In English On (Japanese reading) Kun (Chinese reading) day, sun, Japan, counter for days ニチ、 nichi, ジツ jitsu ひ hi, -び -bi, -か -ka month, moon ゲツ getsu, ガツ gatsu つき tsuki fire カ ka ひ hi, -び -bi, ほ- ho water スイ sui みず mizu, みず- mizu- tree, wood ボク boku, モク moku gold キン kin, コン kon, ゴンかね kane, かな- kane-, soil, earth, ground, Turkey き ki, こ- go- gon がね -gane ド do, ト to つち tsuchi Table 3: Japanese On and Chinese Kun Readings of the base kanji of Japanese days of the week. (Source for On and Kun readings from http://jisho.org/search) 30 English in Japan In Table 3, how names of days of the week have been formed in Japanese culture are clear, but how about in Chinese? In Mandarin, there is no ‘Sun’ or ‘Moon’ or ‘Fire’, etc. It is much simpler: ‘Week Day’, ‘Week 1’, ‘Week 2’, ‘Week 3’, etc. for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.. Incidentally, this is the same system for naming months of the year in Japanese and in Chinese cultures. It would be easy to say that the Japanese pattern for adopting artifacts, systems and patterns from other cultures all follow the same pattern, but clearly it is more complex. At times clearly some things are just taken from another culture. But this occurs only up to a point. Like other artefacts, language items moving from one culture to another never move in a simple way. These conditions are necessary: historical circumstance, having a niceh or purpose to fit and gnearational change for people later on to recognize the foreign item as normal 2 d vi. Language and Other Things Moving from one Culture to in the local culture. another Why are some things taken from one culture into another culture? No easy answer, except to understand the basics of the phenomenon. One culture has contact with something from another culture – say, someone from one culture arrives with something that does not exist in the other culture. This new thing is useful, or interesting, or important or necessary. The second culture needs a name or some words for it, so the take the name or the words from the first culture. Why? Maybe two reasons. One is that it is easy and convenient to just take a name or some words that some people already use. The other reason is that people who have contact with the thing just very locally. Like beer! Beer – a word that was easy and convenient and a word first used just very locally. Famous Japanese beer companies like Sapporo, Asahi, Kirin and Suntory all started in the late 19th century or 20th century. But beer has been in Japan since about the end of the 16th century, and has always been called ビール bi-ru bier (/biɘr/) or beer. Why? Because Dutch traders had beer in Nagasaki way over in the west of Japan – just in Nagasaki (and in that area). Historically, Dutch people were not allowed to go out of Nagasaki, but their books and some products they brought to Nagasaki, like books, samples and so on. In Japan there were no hops or malt which are necessary for making beer, and for a long time (during the Edo period) politically people in the center of Japan (in Edo) did not want to do any connections with cultures outside of Japan. Knowing about beer was one thing, but drinking beer and encouraging people to have beer were very different things. So beer stayed very local in Japan until the country opened up politically and culturally to other beer-drinking cultures like Britain, Germany, the US and even France in the second half of the 19th century. Since Japanese people at the center already knew about beer and had a word for it - ビール bi-ru bier (from Dutch language, which sounds like English, /biɘr/) or beer – they just continued to use this word. Later in this book (Task 16 around about p 160) you can see 31 English in Japan changes in the local language of beer in Japan, from the start of the 20th century. Yebisu beer is interesting, because they keep the English spelling of the word, ビール bi-ru bier (/biɘr/) or beer – remember it is very similar to the Dutch word. (Also they keep the ‘ヱビス’ ‘Yebisu’ spelling with the old ‘ヱ’ ‘ye’ katakana character, not the modern ‘エ’ ‘e’ pronounced as ‘/ɘ/’. This is discussed later). But by 1900, Dutch political and cultural power and significance was not much compared to newer English-language cultures in the world like Britain and the US. But on the first Yebisu Beer bottle labels it used to say ‘麦酒 ばくじゅう bakujuu wheat alcohol’. Nowadays, beer is the most popular alcoholic drink in Japan, and very few people know or remember what 麦酒 ばくじゅう bakujuu wheat alcohol is. So, is ビール bi-ru bier (/biɘr/) or beer a Japanese drink, a Dutch drink or an English drink? And, is ビール bi-ru bier (/biɘr/) or beer, a Japanese word, a Dutch word or an English word? Either it must be one of them; or it doesn’t matter. What do you think? Figure 4: On the origins of ‘Beer’ in Japan. Things like the historical situations of when things occur, situations changing, generational change affect meanings of words and expressions and also the forms that they take. I have called this process Amorphization. (A)morph~ just means that (something) ‘changes’ or ‘is changing’. There is more about this later. 2 d vii. Types of Views on Mixing English and Japanese in the Literature One of my seminar students did some research about the topic Wasei Because Eigo, which is just English language forms (usually words) that have entered Japanese language. I mention her here because she could use some opinions and research done by researchers in Japan whose work I cannot normally understand. She lists some of them which are shown below in Table 4. language mixing much is a very cultural phenomenon, pure linguistic understandings do One thing that my seminar student – and other more experienced and specialized writers than her – could not do was to explain convincingly how meanings of words and expressions from English used together with Japanese changed. They could not get beyond was just speculation. She mentioned a few, like ハイタッチ haitacchi high touch or high five and サラリーマン sarari- man salary man or (male) wage-earner in Japan. The etymology (what the words come from) of not tell enough. It these two examples is a bit self-explanatory, however the point is that times and situations changed and new people came into contact with this English-in-Japanese afterwards. Eventually the local meaning settled. In short, meanings altered then stabilized and then became a part of the local language which is Japanese. So much of English in Japan happens this way. linguistic 32 is better to have a contextual understanding, such as History or Anthropology from from – understandings can tell what the actual changes though. are English in Japan Katakana English Authors Sube (2013) Wasei Eigo English written in Katakana script Japanese made from English words, but according to phonemics and the use having different meanings from English or meaning almost the same and often incomprehensible when translated into English Suzuki (2007), English words written in Katakana Tanabe (1990) Japanese written in Katakana script, made mainly from English Ito (2008) Japanese assimilated into English Japanese-made English words, written in Katakana script Yang (2013) ‘English-sounds’ words but loss of original English semantic value Table 4: Understandings of Wasei Eigo in the literature (Source: Matsuura 2016. Based on Sube (2013), Tanabe (1990), Suzuki (2007), Ito (2008) and Yang (2013)) From this short Japanese-medium literature review a consensus idea about what wasei eigo is is in three parts: • written in Katakana script; • sound changes from English phonemics; • meanings change from English ones. In the English-language literature, ironically books about Japanese language do not cover neologism, wasei eigo or words from other languages (and many ironically do not even mention Japanese writing systems. Instead historical linguistics and also linguistic anthropologists take not off English influencing Japanese and how English occurs in Japan on Loveday (1996) p.199 Figure 7.1). I have mentioned Stanlaw (2004) who influences my thinking: English enters Japanese and becomes sort of Japanesified, losing some of its’English’ quality (Englishness) along the way. The problem with Stanlaw is that he generalises a lot, even though he does have a LOT of examples and discusses how English occurs in Japanese in a LOT of contexts. In other words, Stanlaw uses all his examples to say something like ‘this is how English in Japan becomes ‘Japanese English’, the title of his book. I think instead that his ideas can explain some English in Japan in context (eg. the beer bottle labels (around page 173) and some other example texts in this book, but that is all. Each text with some English is different but they are all examples of different kinds of English in Japan. One other is Leo Loveday’s (1996) Language Contact in Japan: a sociolinguistic history. Loveday goes into a lot of depth and is not liited to English. He does Chinese and other 33 English in Japan European languages too. His idea of ‘contact and mine are different 2. He is also more interested in Japanese language and culture. For example, he has his diagram showing ‘contact strategies’ (Figure 5 below). As can be seen, there is a big difference in thinking between Stanlaw and Loveday on one hand, and more orthodox linguistics researchers on the other. The main reason is the need to look at contact and use (these two put these two together) as well as the language forms. Though the Japanese literature does identify processes that are occurring, some causality is discussed by, say, Stanlaw and Loveday – they tell some reasons why Japanese culture has so much English and English influence in it. 2 d viii. Etymology showing Amorphization of English into Japanese On one point Loveday (1996) is quite correct – other European langauges have influenced Japanese similarly to how English does now. In fact people in Japan did not really evne know that there was a language called English until the late 18th century. Therefore it is useful to look at some examples of words in order to If there are lots of remember that among European languages English is not alone. In a different short essay on common Japanese items which are actually from other purposes or languages, Horvat (nd) describes several non-English examples and niches for things contexts in which they have occurred. Table 5 below lists some of these. from another There are a couple more back in Figure 3 too. Maybe you know some culture such as examples too. language items to fit in another Etymology, or the sources of words, in any language is usually culture, then of speculative, even in authoritative work such as big dictionaries, and course it is more etymology is not the focus of these lectures. More simply, Table 5 likely that there should show how items from English and other languages have are more reasons entered Japanese usage even to the extent that they are not noticed by to mix, adopt Japanese natives as not originating in Japan. But above in Figure 3 things from the (comparing Latin in English and English in Japan), such items would fit other culture, in the third column (eg 国際コミ (kokusai komyunike-shon ‘international and for things to communication’)) or the fifth column (eg 煙草 tabako ‘tobacco’). In these amorphize to fit. cases the item entering Japanese has been amorphized to fit Japanese language forms (eg 国際 kokusai which means ‘international’ has been stuck together with the English-looking word ‘communication’). Or has surreptitiously entered the language (eg. ‘tobacco’). 2 For Loveday and most researchers language contact is a kind of interactive, whereas for me contact is like John Dewey’s idea of contact with environment in as far as English is part of the cultural environment but people do not need to interact with it or with people using English – just seeing or hearing it and maybe recognizing it is enough 34 English in Japan Four Contact Strategies 1a. Upgrade Textual Realization (ie. how and where this can be seen) Primary Socio-Linguistic Functions My comments and explanations Headlines, Names, = Image Building Amorphizatin happening here might (ie. seem clever labels. be a kind of pdginizaing process a bit or in a better Local, creative = Co-identification (ie. to seem organic and natural rather than quality group) adaptation, Acronyms like other people in the group) nplanned or intentional = In-group boosting (ie. to appear cool in a group 1b. Westernize Codeswitch, Code = Entertainment mix, Hybridization Here is where people play around with language for their own or for local purposes Internal 2. Compesnate Technical & Western Language (ie. somehow terminology Resources adapt – eg. = Specialization = Modernization (ie. in contrast to A lot of amorphization happens here – traditional) often done intentionally clipping big = Acculturalization (ie. knowing words – and maybe taking on a ‘airconditioner’ non-Japanese image) – ‘air-con’) 3. Obscure Euphemism, Cant, = Politeness Here any English is going to have a Slang = Elusion/group solidarity (ie. like full impact from local culture and Graffiti, Pejoritive (ie. a secret code or secret language) sense – Stanlaw has a chapter on impolite, insulting, = Rebellion this about how some Engliush maybe taboo) = Derision (ie. insulting, criticizing) actually fits Japanese people’s sense, but I think it is not ‘Japanese’ people, just people in smaller communities in Japan, like in sports or in some cultural groups 4. Intentionally Diverse realizations miscode = Humour (like jokes, punning). This is like 1b above – people playing (ie. various other around with language for local kinds) ‘humour’ (ie. Japanese jokes, not American jokes.) Figure 5: Loveday’s Socio-functional model of language contact strategies (Source: based Loveday 1996 pp 199 Figure 7.1) A usable list of about 350 fairly common words and expressions with some annotations mostly from English which have amorphized into Japanese is presented in a workshop presentation “Wasei Eigo and Engrish” (“Wasei Eigo and Engrish”, 2006. See References for 35 English in Japan link to the internet website 3). i. Japanese item たばこ ii. Meaning in English from Japanese iii. Real or speculative Source cigarette(s) tobacco salmon roe ikra Russian (‘salmon roe’) tempura ? Portuguese or Spanish (temperance? - eating fish on Friday instead of meat) causing trouble ‘trouble’ English (‘trouble’) げばると、 (to engage in Gewalt げばる violent) struggle さぼる miss or stay away sabotage saboru from class German (‘power, control, force) French (‘sabotage’) dull English Dull (meaning lethargic, not bright and happy, tired, melancholic) gibau Portuguese (‘a doublet’) (ie like an old tabako いくら iv. Source language v. Meaning in English (from source language) Native American Tobacco plant (leaf), tobacco languages (recreational drug) (through Portuguese or Spanish) ikura てんぷら tenpura とらぶって （いた） torabutte だるい darui lethargic, sick, tired, having no energy 襦袢 じゅ silken ばん undergarment of jupan a kimono fashioned white shirt) Table 5: Common Japanese words actually thoroughly Amorphized from Other Languages (Source: based on Horvat nd) So, English is just one of a number of languages which have influenced Japanese and which are similarly used in Japan - similarly to how Latin came to be used in and with English. 3If you look on the internet, just searching ‘Wasei eigo’, there are many many lists, so I am not going to recommend any here) 36 English in Japan Task 3: Looking for Where English Words in Japan have Come from. (Hint: look at Table 3) As you can see, there are some words and expressions which have come into Japanese from other languages. Can you yourself think of some English ones which are used in Japan? Make a list below. Extra points if you can convince me here, that ALL the words or expressions are from English. Show other people, and see if they know any words or expressions like this. Japanese word or expression From Translated meaning English? in English (ie from (Advice: please write in Japanese translation or from a Real or Speculative Situational or Etymological Source of English word (ie where do you think it comes from, or how and also in romaji) dictionary) do you think it changed?) 37 Original Meaning in English (Advice: maybe this one is different from the second column) English in Japan 2 d. ix. English in Japan which has less ‘Englishness’. In the last section I tried to show how different items where English mixes with Japanese in Figures 3, 4 and 5, seem like a continuum. In this way, a continuum could In some ways be used to describe how one language (eg English) has come to be used much English in and to influence another (ie Japanese) in the culture and contexts where Japan is actually the latter language is used. But there is a limitation: we are looking at Japanese. Japanese rather than English. This is a kind of anthropological look at Anyway, Japanese, looking at the way people or their customs and culture actually English/Japanese are. But we are supposed to be looking at English, not at Japanese. in Japan is not The point here is that some people (Stanlaw (2004) is one) look in Japanese for English and think they see English. My point is that what they see is actually less ‘English’ than they think. Instead we need to look at the same as switching a light on and off. how English is used in Japan, how, why and when English is used by people who usually speak Japanese (and also by people who usually speak English), not just what they say and write. For me this makes up a lot of the English in Japan, but not all of it. There are some examples soon Summary of Section 2 d English in Japan loses some of its ‘Englishness’ when mixed with Japanese, and equally Japanese loses some of its ‘Japaneseness’ when it is mixed with English. This can be seen as a continuum. Actually there are other languages besides English with which this process occurs. Consequently it is better to examine how and why and when English is used in Japan, not just the English which people speak or write. 38 English in Japan 2 e. English in Japan as a Continuum 2e i. A Continuum Model of English in Japan Figure 6 is a diagram showing a Continuum model of English in Japan. On the left the light coloured one is Disparate English which contains no Japanese. Then, all zones except Disparate English actually should be seen to blend as one massive zone of English that becomes mixed with or changed – or amorphized - to Japanese form. This could be called Amorphized English. However, the zone next to Disparate English would also include Japanese containing English plus English which has some Japanese in it. Some people call this Japlish. Disparate English English items used in or with Japanese, but more English than Japanese syntax – ‘Japlish’ Figure 6: 2 f. English words mixed with Japanese, but more Japanese than English syntax English words or expressions amorphized as Japanese Frequent or common Japanese items which are actually from English Types of English in Japan as a Continuum ‘Japlish’ 2 f. i. ‘Japlish’ Japlish is not new: in some way it has been around since the mid-19th century. Those were days when in a fit of modernization, the government went so far as to consider abolishing Japanese altogether (Koscielecki, 2000) (as it did for other reasons shortly after the Second World War). These events and other historical aspects are examined in a later lecture. 39 English in Japan Japlish is also referred to as ‘Janglish’. Other terms include “wasei eigo (discussed just before) Japan-made English, katakana eigo katakana English” (R. Miller 1967,), and the most sober term coming from the 1930s, ‘Japanized English’ (R. Miller 1967). Laura Miller (1997) has a short discussion about all these names (pp 123 -24). But I shall use ‘Japlish’ because it seems more even. And this name is more common. However the Japlish concept normally has a narrow focus - how Japanese people mix and re-make English words and discourse in Japanese form (also discussed in Stanlaw 2004 p 20). But of course it can go the other way – how non-Japanese people mix and re-make Japanese words etc. in English form. The easiest examples are loanwords which get changed somehow when they move from one language to another. However it is also discourse that is encoded as Text – how people speak and write, what they say, what they mean. ‘Japlish’ is a bit different from wasei eigo. Wasei eigo is more how about English becomes as used Japanese; Japlish is more about Japanese language forms being used as English. How to tell? Check the grammar! Of course we should not limit the place where English, Japanese or Japlish is used to just Japan. Japanese is also used outside of Japan. I remember on the bus to the shopping mall in Honolulu from the hotel, quite a few Japanese people were standing around the door and not sitting down, and the Hawaiian driver got irritated and at a traffic light stopped turned around and angrily shouted “MINA-SAN, O SUATE KUDASAI!” (‘Everybody, could you please sit down!’). All that happened was that passengers who could not follow the Japanese looked a bit stunned. But those who did know enough Japanese started laughing because the driver had used a formal teineigo form (Wetzel 2008 p 123) – when he probably felt like using a much more informal form, such as SUARE! (‘Sit!’) or SUARINASAI! (‘Please sit!’), or he should not have shouted!. Whether this was Japanese or Japlish is a moot point – it was in America. And in America, telling everyone in English would have been quite appropriate. Another example is the word gaijin, (‘foreigner) which has been seen as derogatory, rude or insulting. I used to get a bit upset when I heard it until I went to Australia and heard a lot of Japanese people using the word there. I was a bit shocked, and pointed out that perhaps I was not the foreigner any more. They did not seem to worry because for them it was just a convenient way to refer to non-Japanese, meaning someone from outside of Japanese culture. On that basis, I changed my feelings about the word, and actually use it – rightly or wrongly – quite freely now. I am a gaijin and to be honest I don’t think I can, will ever or even want to try to be nihonjin - ie ‘Japanese person or person from Japanese culture’. My apologies to anyone who takes offense, yet it is much more convenient to say just one word instead of ‘non-Japanese person or person not from Japanese culture’ all the time. Is this Japlish? Yes, I think so, because I use this Japanese item while the rest of my discourse is largely English. Here are some more examples. 2 f. ii. Japlish: Example 1 40 English in Japan An explicit example of this kind of wasei eigo in discourse was in pangurisshu, a joining of panpan and ingurisshi (‘panpan girl’ – or prostitute - and ‘English’) in liaisons of Japanese women and American military personnel in Japan in the 1940s and 50s (R. Miller, 1967, Stanlaw 2004). Stanlaw discusses and gives examples of this (pp 70 – 72). One example is from a novel. Here is a bit of it: 41 English in Japan 1. 2 3 4 5 6 More sukoshi stay, kudasai Hana-ogi Deki-nai, Lloyd-san. No can stay Lloyd Doo shite? Whatsahurry? Hana-ogi Anoo-ne! Takarazuka. My jobu, ne? I jobu go, ne? Lloyd Chotte, chotto goddam matte! Takarazuka ichi-ji start now. Ima only 10 O’clock, ne? Hana-ogi Anoo-ne! Lloyd-san. You mess my hair, ne. … Lloyd Example Text 1: Lloyd & Hana-Ogi conversation segment (Source: based on Michener 1954, quoted by Stanlaw 2004 p 71) The novel is called Sayonara by James Michener, an old writer of some very long historical novels some of which were based on his war and post-war experiences in Japan and the Pacific. Here, presumably he picked up the patois (ie dialect, slang, way of speaking – it’s a French word!) which you can see in the quote above. I have reproduced it differently from Stanlaw, who puts in English translations as well. I have not included those translations because maybe both Japanese speakers and English speakers should be able to understand it – after all, Michener originally was writing in this way for his English-speaking readers. I use this quote actually to show how not just Japanese people can use English and butcher its appropriate form, but gaijin can use Japanese and butcher it too. In the quote, can you see the English bits and Japanese bits? Task 4: Japlish Language (Hint: see Sections 2f ii & 2f.vi) In the quote of Lloyd’s and Hana-ogi’s conversation above, please look for examples of both English and Japanese. Look for examples of words, expressions and grammar. (Advice: remember my idea that something can be English and Japanese at the same time) Any Words? Any Expressions or Idioms? English - Make them correct. - - 42 English in Japan Japanese - - Perhaps you can see some bits which are not just English, not just Japanese, but actually a real mix. This point is where my Continuum Model should be a little useful. Down below later in Figure 5 you can see where I place Lloyd’s and Hana-ogi’s conversation (H & L) near the middle of the Continuum, but a bit towards the English side. There are some other problems with this quoted text: • it is a synthetic text – this means it is made for a purpose and is not real or natural spoken discourse (it is just a novel) • it is probably intended to be understood by English-speaking readers, say, in America, with just enough Japanese in it to make it exotic and to seem not to have enough English to be perfectly clear (it is written in Romaji, not in Japanese characters) • in terms of power, the male, American military character Lloyd is probably stronger in his ethnicity (ie American military occupation ) gender (male), social (military occupation administration), economic (more money) status, than Hana-ogi: defeated Japanese, less rich, female, panpan party girl or prostitute (ie. English was the language of the male soldier, the person with power) In these terms, perhaps there would have been more English and less Japanese in real interactions in the post-war occupation era. 2 f. iii. Japlish Discourse: Example 2 – spoken discourse Actually when I found this quote from Michener’s novel, it reminded me of some real conversation I heard in a bar here one night which I recorded by taking notes. Let’s just say that in the bar, a couple of Japanese girls were using (trying to use) a lot more English than the two gaijin boys were trying to use Japanese. It went something like this: …. i. Japanese Girl (JG) 1: エッ[e?!/What] ?! ii. Gaijin Boy (GB) 1: あなたは[anata ha/You are].../ You are very beautiful. I think you are very beautiful. わかりますか[wakarimasuka/Do you understand]? iii. JG1: 彼 何って[kare nan tte/What’s he saying]? / アッ[ah/Oh!] ! Bari biyoochifuru?! … iv. GB1: なに[nani/What are you/]?/ 43 English in Japan JG2: ソッ ソ-[so, so-/Yeah]! そう言う意味[sou iu imi/That’s what he means] … vi. GB1: /What? Do you know what she’s saying bro? vii. GB2: No. Maybe – Oh maybe she’s saying ‘beautiful’ – yeah, I think she’s, like, translating, … viii. JG2: そう[so-/Yes, that’s right], she is bari beau-tiful. Me は[ha/and(what about) me]? ix. GB2: Yeah, she は[ha/and(what about) her]? x. JG2: そう[so/yes]! Me も[/mo/also] beau-tiful, too?/ xi. GB2: Ha, ha! [LAUGHING] xii. GB1: ハーイ! はい、はい[ha-i,hai,hai/yes yes]! Yes you are. You are very cute/ xiii. JG2: あたしキュート[atashi kyu-to/I’m cute] !! hihihi [LAUGHING] xiv. JG1: ソッ ソ-[so, so-/Yes you are]! アッ!ソ—[a! soooo/oh,and while I am thinking about it] kyu-to gaalzu one mo-a. One mo-re xv. JG2: Please! ちょうだい[cho-dai/please]! Two more!/ … v. Example Text 2: Japanese Girls’ & Gaijin Boys’ Conversation (Source: own data) I am just trying to recall what I heard, so this short transcript text is a bit synthetic too. But the point here is that people in Japan – Japanese speakers and non-Japanese speakers – still are both using English and Japanese mixed together; Japanese speakers inserting English into their normal Japanese, and English-speakers inserting Japanese into their English. But that is just what can be seen by looking at the words and expressions they use. There is more: • codeswitching, (ie. changing form one language to another deliberately or for an extended time) or code-mixing (changing basically at any time from one language to another, even mixing grammar) occurs in every spoken turn except in Turns i., iii., iv., vi. & vii. Only in Turns iv. and v. are the speakers are actually speaking to somebody from the other culture. • the Japanese girls do not use English when talking to each other, even though they are with mainly English-speaking boys. Of course the source of their English repertoire is not clear, though they do pick up clearer pronunciation of beautiful, and cute seems confirmed for the girls as a synonym for beautiful even during this exchange. Also the boys do not even Japlish try to use Japanese when talking to each other. • lots of clarifying and asking for clarification of meaning is going on spoken • there actually is no communication breakdown, though not all of the nuance and meaning may be communicated. But it seems subconsciously that communication is the primary goal, and the English is just as convenient a communication tool as Japanese is 44 is kind a of code-mixing more than codeshifting. This happens much more in discourse than in written discourse. English in Japan • the girls show a greater range of repertoire of English than the boys’ repertoire of Japanese, even within this minimalized exchange • because the exchange is so minimal regarding the range of English (and Japanese) items, it is arguable that the language actually is not even English, nor Japanese. Rather it could be a pidgin mix, really basic level language forms or a mix of more than one language also at really basic level, some kind of contact patois which means a local variety of a language – this is a French word! This may be true, but it becomes an obvious and unnecessary question - if we return to the form/s of the language/s making up this pidginized language exchange, then we still need to account at least for the English being used both by the boys and the girls. English in Japan as pidgin or creole is discussed later. One person can use • though minimal, some bits seem a lot less English than other bits. For instance, in Turns viii. to x., pronouns are English, but particles は and も plus elipsed verb to be produce a grammar form looking more Japanese than English. Also, for instance even one of the gaijin boys Japlish one way, says “…she は[ha/and(what about) her]”, albeit ironically. • rather than actually labeling the language/s being used the pragmatics is more significant. Quite arguably, in this context, gendered discourse is more significant and distinguishable than nationality/ethnicity/linguistic differences. Even so, for me in these lectures, some language forms recognizable as English occur and they need to be accounted for – for instance I need to be able to answer the question, why is English used? This is an issue in analyzing the written texts in the next sections. But just now, as you can see in Figure 5 down below, the Japanese girls and gaijin boys (J & G) are spread widely across the Continuum. another way, can and another person can use Japlish use more Japlish or less – it does not have to be the same. It depends on who and what the person is and what they have to say. 2 f. iv. Japlish Discourse: Example 3 & 4– written texts One problem with a lot of linguistic analysis and evidence is that it is from spoken discourse. For English in Japan, written discourse, written text shows notable and peculiar features. These are discussed later in more detail. However, in the title of this lecture, is it English or Japanese or what, can be considered now. First I had to find some texts, so I went walking around a student job center looking for examples and I found two good ones. The simpler one was this: HITACHI I n s p i r e t h e n e x Example Text 3: Hitachi Logo & Banner Text (Source: www.hitachi.co.jp) 45 t English in Japan An ad, or more specifically, a company name and the company logo. In English, ‘next’ is normally an adjective, which needs a noun, but there is no noun here – ie. the ‘next’ what? Also, there is a verb, ‘inspire’. By itself, this is imperative voice, like giving an order – so who ‘inspires’? In written discourse, Japlish can occur in style Clearly, meaning from English here is not clear. So, rather than the language having some communicative function, the choice of language has some other purpose. My idea that it is like a picture, just giving an image. but we should not look for particular meanings here. Linguistics – people would say that this text has more semiotic significance (a symbol) than semantic (something with meaning). Also, the company name is in roman script, even though commonly it is written with the same pronunciation as 日立 ひたち hitachi in Japanese. Sometimes it is to say using English but in a way that Jpanese fits culture. give an image or impression. Therefore, sometimes the Using roman script, does that make it automatically English? Many purpose is not people think so, but lots of other languages use roman script, including comprehensibility. also Japanese at different times. These issues about writing systems for English in Japan are complex and are discussed in a later lecture (and Stanlaw (2004) makes some interesting observations too). Just now however, this question: is English written in another way, say in Japanese writing, still English? My basic answer is, Yes it can be. Why? A simple reason is that people use writing just to encode language as it also can be spoken. But of course written text is not as simple as just that reason. Example Text 4 is more complex: the cover of a pamphlet in which English is not just used for its semantic value, but also its semiotic value. Part of this is in the graphic aspect of English – how it appears in the over all design. The text looks something like this: 46 English in Japan 社 会 人 基 礎 力 BOOK 2010 秋 号 The Basic Knowledge for the real world キミの未来のために。トレーニングを始めよう TAKE FREE ご自由にお持ち帰りください。 ACTION Style, X font, size of THINKING writing, proportion of X English to Japanese, TEAM WORK 社 • design, 会 人 基 礎 力 Example Text 4: English and Japanese together in Japan: a magazine/pamphlet cover text. (Source: based on Keizai Sangyoushou Kyouroku Kabushukigaisha. 15 Sept 2010. p 1) Unlike the spoken language example just before, there is no mixing English and Japanese in the same sentence or clause here. Also (on purpose here I might add), there is no English written in Japanese script. So, what is there? a title and secondary title (‘Book’ and ‘The Basic Knowledge for the real world’). These are meaningful, relevant to the pamphlet and are comprehensible. Are they correct English? Well, yes, sort of, though ‘The 47 what parts are written in Englsh or Japanse, even pcitures or any other any references to culture inside or outside of Japan – all these are part of Japlish of written texts, NOT JUST THE LANGUAGE. English in Japan • • Basic Knowledge …’ bit could have been typed with a capital R and W for ‘real world’. an instruction ‘Take free’ in large print. This is very glib, minimal English, oddly contrasting with the tiny print Japanese which is very polite, complex formal language requesting people to take copies of the pamphlet ご自由に gojuuni (freely). Why this translation? The easy answer is so people can understand what to do; the difficult answer is that in a sense there is no translation! The English, similarly to the Hitachi text above, is there for affect, like an image – the real message is in the Japanese. So, is the English redundant or unnecessary? Um, yes, I think so. So, why have it? Actually an easy answer: to communicate a message in an image – which actually is far more complex in its construction than the simple text TAKE FREE. Similarly down the bottom, ACTION X THINKING X TEAM WORK, key words suggesting images. Though relevant to the purpose of the pamphlet, their purpose is not to convey explicit relevant meaning, rather just suggestions like the image texts mentioned before. Underneath is more Japanese text in tiny print, just repeating the first message at the very top, 社会人基礎力 shakaijinkisoryoku adult’s basic power (!). Actually, none of it is very concrete, but I don’t think it is intended to be. So what is the English, and what is it for? It is for image construction. It is all part of the overall image. Is the English necessary? Yes and no – not to communicate specific meaning as language normally does, rather to add to a more complex image the makers of the text wish to convey. Use of English in this way is a type of cultural practice. The English texts themselves actually become Japanese cultural artifacts rather than instances of use of a language in Japan: the English shares common cultural ground with an ukiyo-e print, or a stone lantern in a garden. Ironically, use of English in this Japlish does not way makes Nobuyki Honna’s (2008) comment mentioned in the last mean anything lecture seem accurate: English as a Japanese language. However, really. It is just a English text as Japanese cultural artifact could be the same as any kind of French, Italian or Korean text used in Japan in a similar way. communication behaviour that 2f.v. What ‘Japlish’ can Mean ‘Japlish’ is a bit different from wasei eigo. As mentioned before, maybe happens a lot normally ‘Japlish’ refers to English spoken by Japanese people who also use Japanese language items and forms. It is a one-eyed concept. Yet, equally it could (and I believe should) refer to Japanese spoken by English speakers who also use English language items and forms in their discourse. Why should this happen? But in Japanese culture. shows Japlish that text either somebody does not know enough Japanese or enough English to say what they want to, or that One reason is that people do not know enough of one language to 48 somebody is trying to give an impression by showing a little or a lot of English. English in Japan communicate only in that language, so they need to borrow from the other language. This was happening a bit in the Japanese girls-gaijin boys conversation quoted before. Also, once I went to another bar, and I was talking to a guy from Indonesia. He was a chef, and worked only with Japanese staff. He and I talked in Japanese at first, but later in English. A couple of local Japanese people who knew us came and joined in the conversation and it was a similar kind of ‘Japlish’ as I described before. The point here is that there was absolutely no Indonesian language used – the chef was borrowing from English, and not his own language. Therefore, of course we should not limit the use of Japanese, English or even Japlish to just native speakers of those languages. Such a view is naïve and ignorant. It is would be a safe assumption to make that in the Indonesian chef’s kitchen some form of ‘Jandonesian’ (Japanese & Indonesian) has occurred at least once in the two years that he has been working there. By the way, our conversation ended with us trying to teach the Indonesian chef some hiragana – he could speak but he said that he could not read or write any Japanese at all, had never learnt because he said that he had never felt the need to read or write Japanese! There are other reasons why people chose to mix languages (by custom or by deliberate choice), which will be discussed later. So, in this sense, Japlish probably is actually the type of English on the one hand and the type of Japanese on the other hand, used by people who do not know enough English and so need to use some Japanese on the one hand, and on the other hand people who do not know enough Japanese and so need to use some English. When people do this, they are trying to communicate – making or using Japlish becomes a communication act. Then, if people do it often enough, it becomes a communication practice or even a type of cultural behaviour. There is another perspective however: when Japlish is written down and examined, it has form as language or text. Japlish then is language or text - it is not a communication act or a practice or a kind of cultural behaviour. It is not necessarily interesting, stupid, wrong or charming – it is just a kind of artifact which we can take or leave as we wish. 2 f. vi. Japlish as Pidgin or Creole: As a mix of two languages, Japlish can have characteristics of:  a pidgin – a really simple style language using simplified language forms and sometimes items from different languages, and usually used for just a simple purpose, or  a creole - a language or dialect made up of items from different languages, usually a spoken 49 English in Japan or known by a large population for many different purposes. One view is that pidgins and creoles become distinct languages once they lose some of the defining forms of the original languages, in this case English and Japanese. For instance, in the grammar, for declarative functions (ie for instance if I tell you about something) English tends to be Subject+Verb+Object, (S+V+O) and Japanese tends to be S+O+V. So, if people are mixing English and Japanese they may be putting the verb variously in the middle or at the end. You can see this in Turns 4 and 5 in the quote from Michener’s novel: ‘ My jobu, ne? I jobu go, ne? S+O [should be ‘to my job as indirect object]+V and Takarazuka ichi-ji start S+O [should be ‘ichi-ji de いちじ で(ichi ji de) indirect object]+V Though this is just artificial in a novel, both examples show how the word order is mixed, from both the English view and the Japanese view. Where does the grammar and word order come from? In the quoted bits from Michener’s novel just now, it is hard to say, because it is just an artificial text from a novel. The Japanese girls – gaijin guys example also is hard to tell, because it comprises more code-switching of whole clauses with little clear grammar or word order patterns (eg. ‘Me は?’ shows just a normal Japanese euphemistic question pattern except with just one word Me substituting for 私 (watashi/I or me). Instead it is possible to say that if the speaker has Japanese as their first language, then a Japanese-type syntax is more likely. If a not Japanese, then that other language could be the source of syntax. This is against a noticeable common pattern with creole languages called basilectalization. A basilect is the lower class or lower status language when two or more languages meet and begin to mix as pidgins or creoles. Noticeably, if there are two languages beginning to mix, normally lexis (the words and expressions) tends to come form the acrolect (or superior, higher class language) and syntax (grammar) patterns tend to come from the basilect, especially for people originally users of the basilect as their first language. Nobuyuki Honna (2008) mentions it in the case of Singapore but not for English in Japan. Mufwene (2009) has a concise explanatory treatment of Creolization and Pidginization processes (and he does not mention English in Japan as an example either). One problem with this view is that it is too difficult to say which is basilect and which is acrolect in the case of Japanese and English. The only evidence for English in Japan is primarily lexical: historically Japanese has absorbed far more words and expressions from other languages (especially English – a 50 In linguistic Japlish terms, often looks like pidgin (especially spoken texts), partly because of code-mixing possible mistakes. and language But two problems are: English or Japanese – which is acrolect and which is basilect? Also people look at only words and idiom, though language also has grammar and its pragmatic aspect (eg. Amybe purpose) Japlish on English in Japan phenomenon considered in the next two lectures) than Japanese going into English. In theory, that would make English the acrolect. But this may have more to do with the odd historical circumstances in which Japanese culture has had contact with English and how English has had to be used. One other perspective is to focus on the users of the language. For instance a group like the Japanese girls - gaijin guys discussed before (assuming the gaijin guys have English as their first language), could have a recognizable or noticeable pattern: the girls may tend to use Japanese syntax more and the guys use English syntax more. We would need far more evidence than the short, minimal conversation in Example Text 2 though. However, this view does correlate with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (discussed next). It is not my favorite explanation, but it can help us to make progress. So, Japlish is pidgin at best? I am not in favor of this view either: this is because of the high amount of amorphized English occurring in Japanese. Whatever it is, it is perhaps best understood as a contact language for people from English language culture and from a Japanese language culture. The phenomenon is discussed through much of the rest of these lectures, after we have put the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis to rest. 2 f. vii. English, Japanese and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf were a professor and his student in America in the early and mid-twentieth century who had a theory about how people speak. Their theory basically is that the way a person uses their language (eg the order of ideas and types of things they say, etc.) reflects the distinctive way people in their culture think. Also, they thought that a person’s culture actually makes the person what he or she is, a bit like DNA does. Whether they were right or wrong, they were influential. These two guys focused on national/ethnic/linguistic cultures, for instance saying Mexican people speak English differently from Americans because that is what Mexicans do, that is how Mexicans are, that is how Mexicans think. Similarly, according to the hypothesis, Japanese people use English (and their own language?!) the way they do, because of their Japaneseness. I think that this view is a bit naïve, for two main reasons.First, people can be Japanese, but they can also be male or female, old or young, educated or uneducated, lawyers, nurses or engineers, or whatever. For instance, in Japlish Example Text 2 above, the gaijin guys and Japanese girls were talking like any young party boys and party girls in a bar: the guys wanted the girls and the girls wanted attention and another drink! The second reason is that people say and write lots of different things for lots of different reasons in various ways in any language. How they think, what they are thinking of and the situation they are inof course may influence how they communicate anything. This is evident in any analysis of complex pragmatics or discourse. But saying Shut up! or だま 51 English in Japan れ! damare/shut up! to a noisy person is similarly straight forward in Japanese and English. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is relevant to what grammar is used in Japlish: predominantly either English syntax or Japanese syntax. But, I think equally or more important, is simply what language the person normally uses, in this case English or Japanese – simply because they are accustomed to I, or because people around them are using that language. If people are less accustomed to one language, then perhaps they would opt for the safer, less pragmatically or comprehensibly risky expression, such as Be quitet! or しずか下さい!/Shizuka kudasai!/Quiet! Coming back to the Japanese girls and gaijin guys, we need to ask the question: just how good is the girls’ English and the guys’ Japanese? Language level and therefore confidence with it are factors, not to mention other things that come with interaction experience – for instance, if one thing or another was able to let the guys or girls into the others’ pants, then there is motivation to stay with that strategy again, including maybe again using language in a particular way. Actually, judging from that conversation, none of them seem to be very good at the other language. How often and at what level people have contact with and use a language does influence how much they are going to be able to use something like the grammar of the language and also have things like pragmatic awareness - knowing how to use the language appropriately in a communicative context. So, if someone knows a lot about the language form and the pragmatics of a language, the chances are that they are going to be able to use it more like people whose first language it is. Also the opposite, if people don’t really know much of the language they are probably going to rely on what is more familiar, such as words, syntax, pronunciations and also rhetoric patterns (how people speak write and even choose the way they speak or write) from their own normal language and communication behaviour. John McWhorter (2008) has an interesting plain-language critique of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and also observes how some Japanese grammatical order is the same as some old Scandinavian language (and he rightly denies that Vikings once sailed to Japan a thousand years ago and influenced Japanese to be the way it is today!). His point is that it is coincidence, because Vikings and Japanese samurai warriors were pretty different and never ever spoke the same language. Back with Japlish, it is much more easily recognizable if we look at communicative functions - what meaning is being communicated. Also, if there are enough pragmatic cues such as endophoric and exophoric deixis – basically knowing speakers or writes and readers knowing what is talked about in and outside of the In many ways, communication message. Basically this just means the meaning is Japlish is more somehow understood enough by the other person if the other person about wider knows what the first person is talking about if two people - English communication 52 behaviour than just language. English in Japan speaker and Japanese speaker - both know a bit of the other person’s language, they can actually communicate what they mean to say more effectively, because they probably know more than one way to say it! Clearly I am a bit dismissive of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. But, near the end of the last section, I pointed out that it depends on how much of the other language the person knows: if people do not know enough, then they still need to try and communicate using the language. Besides dictionaries, almost the only way they can do this is to begin taking from the other language/s they know better – either code-switching, putting in a foreign word or expression here or there, or just translate literally (word-by-word). This is what was happening a bit in the Japanese girls and gaijin guys example before. But it is happening much less (maybe not at all) with ‘Wes’ in Example 4 below. Why? Because the person he was speaking with did not know any Japanese, and Wes had been away from Japan for quite a while and may even have lost some of his first language knowledge. 2 f. viii. Japlish as Pidgin or Creole: Text Example 5 A real example of this is discussed at length in a case study by Schmidt (1983). One qualification that needs to be made is that Japanese words do not appear in this example. However, at some points Japanese syntax and grammar rules are evident. This is one reason why I use this example – to show that Japanese usage is not limited to words, rather to other aspects of language as well. The grammar is the main linguistic This study was done in Hawaii over 3 years and the subject was a 33 year-old Japanese male called ‘Wes’ who had actually been living in Hawaii for a number of years. At the start of the study, Wes knew a bit of English but not really enough to function in normal complex English-speaking contexts, but he had picked up and used enough English for his basic needs such as in fast food restaurants. Over 3 years Wes was taught more complex English ostensibly for him to be able to cope in more complex English-speaking situations. In the end, Wes did pick up a bigger repertoire of English, but he continued to speak with a lot of mistakes which showed him still using some Japanese grammar and discourse patterns. Here is an example of Wes’s English at the start: RS [interviewer, Richard Schmidt]: So what’s the difference between “paint” and “Painting”? Wes: Well if I go to exhibition, I saw “paint,” but “I’m start painting” means I do it, not finish RS: Yeah, OK, sort of, so what’s the difference between “think” and “thinking”? 53 way to judge if English if or Japanese. Why? Because when people have problems communicating, use they more familiar or logical patterns which are usually what they are used to or what they grew up with – that means patterns and order of first language. Words and expressions whatever they are tend to fit around it. English in Japan Wes: Also, “I’m think” means now. “I’m thinking” means later. (p 148) NS [native English speaker]: you wanna go eat? Wes: uh, what you ever like? (p 152) Example Text 5: Wes’s Conversation (Source: Schmidt 1983) Schmidt observes that “Wes has a rather rich repertoire of formulaic utterances, memorized sentences and phrases” (p 153) but he asserts that But it is evident that of Wes’s two major language-learning strategies, imitation and rule formation, imitation is more successful (p 151) Basically this means that Wes was much better at picking up bits and pieces of English he heard around him, and being able to use them in the right or partly right contexts. But he was not so good at thinking about how and why to use them. Also he did not seem to think of any rules for making his English sound correct. Because he did not know or think about any rules (eg grammar rules, rules for different things like word order, etc.) he just bases his language choices on what he thinks is maybe OK in the context. Or he may go back to his first language (L1) Japanese for a source of grammar or other kinds of language rules. However I think that this is not going to be the case for, say native and expert Japanese and English-speakers in Japan (who have or do not need to learn or acquire a great knowledge either of English or of Japanese). As implied in the last couple of sections, this is one of the basic limitations of this view of Japlish as pidgin or creole – high-level users know enough to speak or write accurately and most likely do not need to worry about their language being mixed up like lower level users of English in Japan 2 f. ix. Japlish and Pragmatic Awareness Schmidt (1983) was also interested in the pragmatics of when English-speaking people in Hawaii (he uses the term ‘native speaker’) were listening to Wes’s English, when perhaps Wes did not say things clearly enough. Schmidt generalizes about … the degree to which native speaker listeners must rely on the nonverbal context not only to decipher the ambiguities of his grammatical system but also to discover the illocutionary force of his [Wes’s] communicative messages…(p 166) Basically this means that speakers of one language listening to speakers of another language, who are not very good at talking in the original language, have to think about the context and situation - who, when, where, why these things are being said. And I think that this goes both ways: in any interaction, say between Japanese speakers and English speakers who both know a bit of each other’s languages, both have to think about the ‘nonverbal context’. 2 f. x. So, is Japlish actually Pidgin or Creole? 54 English in Japan Before moving onto, I need to conclude these couple of sections on Japlish as Pidgin or Creole. My view is a bit circumspect: Japlish could seen as a pidgin, for a couple of key reasons. Japlish looks like a pidgin, but is not It seems that there is no discernable fixed syntax for Japlish, except that pidgin at different times it can show more or less English syntax or Japanese syntax. As for lexis, it can vary just as much, the user of the language simply taking or substituting some item from their own language or some similar simplified item they would know. In this sense, Japlish would show more the characteristics of an immature pidgin variety of English (or of Japanese for that matter), rather than a more maturely developed creole variety. Further evidence is that a creole variety frequently has a community of users of the variety as their first language. Japlish does not have that. because it does not or seem like to a creole develop language. However in very local contexts, like a multilingual workplace or a group of friends, various special Japlish codes could Becoming a distinct language is probably what happened, say, to English influenced by northern German and British Celtic languages and mixing with Latin and French at different points between about 1500 and 500 act like special local languages. years ago. But with Japlish, probably not yet. It is probably still just one kind of ‘English in Japan’. This is because I do not think that there is a clear grammar for Japlish yet. On my continuum model, Japlish occurs across the middle zone. This is dealt with in the next section. Summary of Sections 2e & 2f English in Japan can be understood as a continuum, from disparate English then mostly English with some Japanese then mostly Japanese with some English, until English is not present more or less. Japanese and English mixed up is often called Japlish. Japlish can seem like a pidgin or a creole-type language depending on what language is used and its context. As such, pragmatics affects the form the type of English used by people in Japan. 55 English in Japan 2 g.. Applying a Continuum Model 2 g. i A Continuum of English in Japan I have mentioned three cases in which Japlish as a type of pidgin or creole (also as a type of English in Japan) is used by both Japanese and English speakers: 1. ‘Lloyd’ and ‘Hana-ogi’ in post-war occupied Japan (L&H); 2. The Japanese girls and the gaijin guys in the bar the other night (J&G); 3. ‘Wes’ in Hawaii in the late 1970s and early 80s (W). 4. The ‘Hitachi’ logo 5. The ‘Keizai Sangyoushou Kyouroku Kabushukigaisha’ magazine pamphlet text (KSKK) Right now I wish to return to the Continuum model of English in Japan described before. I wish to try to place these examples of Japlish– actually I don’t like the term ‘Japlish’, but it is convenient up to now – somewhere in the continuum. Though I strongly believe that we need to look at this equally from both the Japanese perspective and the English perspective, at this time I shall consider only from the English perspective. (How can you make the same Continuum model for a Japanese perspective? Easy, just swap ‘English’ for ‘Japanese’ and ‘Japanese’ for ‘English’!) Figure 7:‘Lloyd’ and ‘Hana-ogi’ (H & L), ‘Japanese girls and the gaijin guys in the bar’ (J & G) and ‘Wes’ (Wes), ‘Hitachi’ (H) and Keizai Sangyoushou Kyouroku Kabushukigaisha (KSSK) texts on a Continuum of ‘English in Japan Disparate English Wes Hitachi ’ H&L English words mixed with Japanese, but more Japanese than English syntax English items used in or with Japanese, but more English than Japanese syntax – ‘Japlish’ J&G – mainly gaijin guys K Frequent English words or expressions amorphized as Japanese J&G – mainly Japanese g i r l s S K 56 K or common Japanese items which are actually from English English in Japan Naturally these placements are speculative, and it also depends on the actual contexts and actual language used in each situation. For instance, for Wes and ‘J&G’ there were more language, more situations and therefore more variation, and so they spread across wider fields than ‘H&L’. Task 5: Finding English in Japan and Placing it on a Continuum (Hint: look at Figure 5 for an example) Please try to remember or find two texts containing English in Japan: something spoken and something written (Advice: just short texts are enough. But please try to have texts more than just one word long.) Please write them below so that they are clear, and that other people can see which bits seem like English and which seem like Japanese. After that please think about the texts you have found and try to place them on the Continuum of English in Japan below. (Advice: use initials (ie just letters), like I have in Figure 5, if you like) (More advice: of course this is your own analysis and your opinion – if you can explain why you have placed the texts in a particular place this is enough – it shows that you are thinking about English in Japan – how ‘English’ the language is and also ‘how Japanese’ the language is) 57 English in Japan So, what kinds of texts? i. ……………………………………………………… ii. ……………………………………………………………….. iii. ……………………………………………………………………………… In the spaces below, write your 3 chosen texts in the spaces above the three continuums. Also circle the part of the English in Japan continuum where you think the text is. i.. Text: On the Continuum >Disparate English- - I- - - - - - - - - - - - - I - - - - - - - - - I- - Amorphised – - - - - - - - I - - - - - -日本語- - < ii. Text: On the Continuum >Disparate English- - I- - - - - - - - - - - - - I - - - - - - - - - I- - Amorphised – - - - - - - - I - - - - - -日本語- - < iii. Text: On the Continuum >Disparate English- - I- - - - - - - - - - - - - I - - - - - - - - -- I- - Amorphised – - - - - - - - I - - - - - -日本語- < Disparate English items used in English or with Japanese, but with more English than Frequent or English words mixed English words or with Japanese, but with expressions more Japanese than amorphized as items which are English syntax Japanese actually English Japanese syntax Continuum of English in Japan 58 common Japanese English in Japan In following chapters the issue of how English becomes mixed with Japanese firstly from an historical perspective, then later looking at semantic fields of Colour and Sense are discussed. At this point however, I want to address the question, ‘Is Japanese English really English or is it really Japanese?’ There are various apparent answers, such as ‘English’, ‘Japanese’ and ‘English and Japanese’. I shall try to present rationales for each. First some advice on limitations to the Continuum model described and applied above. 2g ii Limitations of the Continuum Model of English in Japan What kinds of English have been used? On the Continuum model presented before, the whole continuum of English in Japan is evident. However most common would be English with some Japanese words or expressions, and English amorphized into Japanese. The Continuum model for English in Japan has three noticeable limitations: One problem with - Context of the language – it is limited to Japan or cultural proximity of Japanese –speaking people. Mixing Japanese and English is permissible as long as communication remains in a Japanese context. Outside of that context (eg outside Japan or away from Japanese people) mixed amorphized English becomes less meaningful. language text is describing ists size any – the bigger the text the more language there is and the more chance for - language complexity as a factor. For instance, a Japanese person may go overseas and speak English, say at a hotel, and uses a model of lots of different features to English from an English conversation textbook fairly accurately – such describe. It is as the formulaic examples at the end of the last section. But this might much easier to be the limit of contexts where the person uses English. The person describe a word or might be a low-level English user, but the only time she uses English, a sentence, but little or no Japanese occurs and the English itself is not very that is never sophisticated. In this situation, only the language used can be enough to use for considered, and in this situation the person would probably be using a whole language. disparate English. This is not to say that later on, the person would mix some Japanese with his or her English. If the person does not know lots This is the main problem with the of English, then the person may fall back on English mixing with Japanese (which can begin to change in from and meaning quite a lot as Continuum model we have seen). Then we have the same problem as when Japanese style English is used, say, outside of Japan – it becomes less meaningful, or unmeaningful – just the same problem as mentioned in the last lecture about Japlish and Japanese English actually being English or not. - Changes in language form, style, topic (or topicality), genre, medium, channel – if, in a spoken conversation or in, say, emails, people change topic or the way they speak or write, then probably some parts of the communication become clearer or less clear, more or less understandable. This can happen for different reasons to anybody. If, say, the amount of Japanese being mixed goes up 59 English in Japan or down too much, then the Continuum model cannot be used for the whole text. But it may be able to be used only for part of the text. This point serves to remind us that if we consider the history of a language, it is advisable to consider the language which people have had contact with and also language which people have used. 2 h. ‘Is Japanese English really English or is it really Japanese?’: Answers 2 h. i. As English First of all, both the expressions, ‘Japanese English’ and ‘English in Japan’ focus on English or anything with an ‘Englishness’ quality which occurs in Japan or in Japanese. Also, the sources of all the relevant language items are from or in English. Therefore it is English. The example in the next section used to show how English in Japan is actually Japanese also shows how the origins of these items is actually English. 2 h. ii. As Japanese At the bottom of my latest satellite TV guide in Japan I noticed a strange expression which appeared like this: アラフォー (Around40) Example Text 6: Text with English and Japanese Mixed (Source: Sukapa- Days [スカ パー Days] 1. 2009, p 1) At first I was confused: there was a number written in digits (40) – how should I say it, as English (‘forty’) or as Japanese (四十 よんじゅう ‘yonjuu’)? Then I noticed the answer to the question sitting in this short text: フォー ‘fo-‘! Then, in parentheses, was clarification of the meaning, but in English! The meaning of course relates to the age group ‘around forty’, or if in fact we were now speaking in Japanese, I suppose we could be saying ‘’四十歳ぐらい’ ‘よんじゅうぐらい’ ‘yonjuusai gurai’. Instead we get フォー ‘fo-‘ from the English, ‘forty’! Now that is clear, the next question is why have clarification at all? It is just a small banner (ie like an advertisement) on a magazine cover. I am not even convinced that it is clarification. I think that in part, having the English ‘Around40’ is an image text which just happens to be written language and may not be supposed to have semantic significance – it is there just to give an impression. If so, it is not English – it is not even language! However, the Japanese script certainly was saying something in Japanese. I began to think about through what process this strange little text developed. Then it occurred to me that what I was looking at was indeed Japanese, though with obvious English roots (which give it ‘Englishness’!). However the process of forming this language item is 60 English in Japan certainly a Japanese one. ‘Japanization’ may be one term for it (the last lecture mentioned a couple of others, eg ‘English Remade in Japan’ (Stanlaw 2004 p 291). But is a mental ‘process’ actually language? Some people call this Interlanguage (which means a mix of languages in your head. See Selinker 1972); sometimes creole or pidgin. My answer is less about the language form, than about who is saying it. This is explained in the next section. 2 h. iii As neither English nor Japanese – just comprehensible language in context To illustrate this answer I wish to return to the bar with the Japanese girls and gaijin guys, especially the Japanese girls and what they later said. They were all younger than me, and I was sitting at the counter away from them sitting at a table, but I was close enough to hear what was being said. Suddenly one of the girls called out an order for another drink. She said, すみません！ ウォッカ烏龍茶 ください sumimasen! uokka uuroncha kudasai! Excuse me! Vodka and oolon tea please The staff at the bar acknowledged, “はい！Hai!” then relayed the order to another staff member, ウォッ茶 一ッぱい-！ uoccha ippai-! One ‘vod-cha’! It struck me as an interesting abbreviation which is something that happens often in Japan with words (eg がいじん gaijin which I discussed above is actually an abbreviation for the more standard, polite がいこくじん gaikokujin). I commented that it was an interesting abbreviation. The staff agreed with me, but the girls had only half-heard. This made the staff give an explanation of the joining of ‘vodka’ and ‘oolon tea’ in Japanese to make uoccha (‘vodcha’). Then everybody started discussing how the abbreviation is made and some other examples. This abbreviation process is an instance of changing words (I actually prefer the intransitive form, ie. words changing), the amorphization process I mention repeatedly in these lectures. It has since struck me that they were describing this abbreviation process: a process for making words that were easier to say in the context of the bar, all be it new words. The communication was successful in the context of the bar. But the new expression would become properly current only if people started to say uoccha (‘vodcha’) outside of the bar. But would that be current Japanese, English, or what? (Perhaps the making of new Japlish, or a kind of English in Japan??) 2 i. Amorphization as a language practice 2i. i. Japanese English as an Outcome of a Process which starts with English The point here is that this mixing of an English word (actually arguably Russian) with 61 English in Japan Japanese was a process which seemed second nature to the staff, and to the Japanese girls who did not pay much attention. In other words they did not really think about it as especially English or any other language. It just seemed like something which people normally spoke, which is Japanese. At the same point, once everybody started to pay attention and to deconstruct what had just happened, they came to acknowledge the phenomenon of joining of Japanese English Japanese and non-Japanese words to make a new item in (Japlish) is neither Japanese. English Is this phenomenon unique to Japanese English or to English in Japan? No – people do it here all the time, with Japanese as well. One example is the Japanese, 卒業論文 そつぎょうろんぶん sotsugyou ronbun (‘graduation thesis’) which students have to do before graduating from university. It is often called just 卒論 ん ‘sotsuron’. そつろ Another example (ironic in this sense) is the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, もんぶかがくしょう monbukagakushou. People in Japanese often say モンカショウ monkashou, which is where lots of unnecessary bits are cut off, or nor Japanese and also both. Grammar is one way to decide, not words. However – like with other languages mixing – usually the forms are decided by context-specificity in which lingua franca-type language formation what people call clipping. Clipping in this way is a kind of language can happen. practice in Japanese language culture. (And in English it should be MECST, but people make it even shorter as ‘MEXT’). It is ironic because this institution is the authority making rules for Japanese to be used in public institutional discourse and taught in schools (and also actually rules for the English taught in schools). The significance of this and the extent to which its rules are appropriate and indeed followed will be discussed in a later lecture. So, Japanese people are prone to change their own language too – probably just like native users of many other languages too. In regard to using, mixing or changing English words in Japanese, Stanlaw (2004) observes that “individuals apparently feel free to use them in creative and highly personal ways” (p 18). In this sense it is not surprising that a drink like ‘vodcha’ comes to be called that, however it is unlikely to be found in any dictionary, and I doubt that the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology would make a rule requiring teachers to teach ‘vodcha’ in schools. Therefore, as a recognizable Japanese word or a recognizable English word, perhaps when English is amorphized into Japanese, it is not actually Japanese, but certainly it loses some or a lot of its ‘Englishness’. However, the fact is that this amorphization process is so prevalent and so second-nature as to be done unconsciously in Japan; that the process itself is a language practice that is recognizable as a cultural behaviour or a cultural practice, even if it is not ‘language’ per se. 62 English in Japan Summary of Sections 2 g, h & i By applying a Continuum model to English in Japan, can accommodate more than one variety of English being used at one time. Also, a Continuum model can explain how English in Japan can be see as English on the one hand, both English and Japanese and even as Japanese at other times. The amorphization of English into Japanese is a type of language behaviour, which is also a Japanese cultural behaviour or cultural practice. Summary of Lecture 2 Lecture 2 introduced a Continuum model applied to English in Japan. Inside the continuum there is a large zone in which English actually mixes with Japanese. In this sense, English in Japan can be described as a pidgin-type language in some contexts, but not so much as a creole-type language. Though there are a couple of limitations like context and how much the language changes inside a text, the Continuum model permits as many varieties of English as possible to be described. It also permits multiple answers to the question, ‘is English in Japan actually English, or Japanese?’: English, Japanese, and both. 63 English in Japan 4. History of English in Japan This lecture is a bit long but it is in 3 parts: explaining what I mean about contact with and use of English, some history of contact with English, and then some history of use of English in Japan. In this lecture, the historical background of English in Japan is Most people considered from three perspectives: think a. contact with English texts history of a b. contact with English (more about contact with culture, discourses and language is so on through English (and English language contact with Japan outside of its philology Japan) – how its c. use of English in Japan form Amorphization of English comes into it a bit, but only incidentally. changes, and sometimes how the language is used. This is not enough The purpose of this is to show that as historical processes, these three phenomena are not new, and nor should they be considered as current developments. Further, though, Japan is the primary environment for the occurrence of English in Japan, yet, English in Japan cannot be considered as limited only to inside Japan – Japanese communities sharing other Japanese cultural practices besides language use exist outside of Japan. Also Japanese people as individuals move around outside of Japan carrying their English knowledge and skills (and other language and communication skills) with them. In this sense, English in Japan is portable, to the extent that it can originate outside of Japan and be brought back to Japan, and even never arrive in Japan at all. There are not many books about English in Japan, just two that are relevant here: Stanlaw’s (2004) Japanese English, which I think has the wrong title, because it is more about English Japan, including English ’Used’ in Japan and how people have contact with that; and Loveday’s (1996) Language Contact in Japan, which is not just about how Japanese people have encountered English but other languages as well showing how things from different languages traditionally have come into Japan and into Japanese so it is a bit wrong to think of English in Japan as something culturally distinct or separate, Just the same as Chinese cannot be separated from language culture in Japan. Contact with a language is different from Use of a language. People can have texts with la particular language around them and then either pay attention to them or not pay attention to them. Loveday (1996) is interested only in Contact when people pay attention to the language texts with a level of understanding. Instead I point out that people do not need to pay attention to texts if they do not have, but can simply just notice the texts without understanding them. In other words, people can have contact with and notice the texts, know that it is language and not just lines or pictures, or know that it is not (all) Japanese, but not understand it. Before people can understand the language in the text, they need to recognize it. Sometimes that is a shock. But then people might get used to seeing texts the texts become part of the environment. But Using (some) English, well, people would need to understand something, That is the difference. Figures 8, 9 and 10 are a summary of patterns, historical trends, some cultural changes and some events in the history of English in Japan. Anyway, looking at history can help to make some sense of English in Japan. 64 English in Japan Waves of Tradition-Setting Contacts with English in Japan Dates / Events/ Periods Spoken English Late 16th-mid17th century - Japanese wako pirates’ encounter English adventurers’. 1613-23 - English East India Company merchants and local staff in Hirado & Osaka. No purposeful contact. 1808 Phaeton Incident in Nagasaki Early & mid 19th Century – incidental isolated contacts with foreign individuals (eg Dutch trader and language teacher Jan Bloomhoff, castaway Nakayama (‘John’) Manjiro, eccentric Canadian adventurer Ronald MacDonald). 1853,54 - visits by strong American delegations under Matthew Perry. Meaningful interaction in English now possible at institutional level. 1850s-80s – foreigners – representatives, traders, yatoi ‘experts’, missionaries - entering, staying in Japan, in cities & isolated regional areas. ‘English master generation’ of teachers (ie. mainly from foreigners). . Written English Localized contact with spoken English; some official trade and political documents from England presented to central government. in Edo. Delegations plus documents presented in English by Richard Cocks to Tokugawa Shogunate, interpreted into Japanese by William Adams. British navy ship Phaeton, terrorizes Nagasaki Available English grammar, lexicons, other Harbour. Dutch powerless except as written texts to assist translation and raise interpreters, Japanese confronted by new translators’ skills levels. powerful foreigners speaking unknown langauge (English) – unforeseen - big shock! Individuals (eg) assisting bringing knowledge of spoken and written English American delegation again found to be Treaties, other official documents in English English-speaking Official & private efforts to obtain English speakers plus texts relevant to economic & cultural development English being taught - English model of language – predominantly by foreign (British, American) Isolated Japanese views on replacing Japanese writing system, and even Japanese langauge Pidgin Japanese Englishes developing in ports. English-language newspapers publication (eg English-speaking ex-patriate communities Japan Times) though readership mainly developing in ports, cities non-Japanese Much intercourse between Japanese Japanese Romaji Roman script writing intellectuals and others with foreign experts in systems develop (notably Hepburn’s) English Foreign words in Japanese katakana script. 65 CONTACT WITH English: comments Incidental encounters, frequently violent trying to kill not communicate. English heard or read, but ignored & considered unimportant and barbarian as were other European languages. Shock effects on political, cultural center,, especially with Phaeton Incident.. From this period Japanese contact with. Government and intellectuals paying attention to spoken and written English, BUT still very local, isolated, small-scale contact with English. English produced in Japan by Japanese starts Advantage of focus on English reinforced. Significantly increasing contact with English occurring and sought, by greater proportion of population, with official and private sanction and encouragement. Increasing international intercourse. Range and amount of texts for translation significantly increasing Japanese variety of English becoming noticeable English in Japan Stabilizing situation of contact with Japanese-born English teachers predominate. As text translation becomes more extensive, Preference for yakudoku translation to Japanese less dependence on texts in English and other English in Japan: large amounts of English learning approach – decline in spoken English languages text from abroad, some from Japan; focus ‘Semi-master’ generation of teachers. significant corpus of translated English texts 1890s – national school English education meaning many types of English texts can be Many words entering Japanese lexis from European languages, predominantly English starts. ignored; acrolectal incursions by European Much English text available in the Japanese cultural environment but fewer deliberate words into Japanese. popular and public choices to pay attention to English. 1920s-45- rising nationalism key political& Less cause, chances or scope for contact with English being translated - increasing range of Pro-Japanese political & cultural reaction cultural phenomenon. spoken English. fields & genres of texts in world. against foreign influences – 1931-45 – Asian and Pacific War. •substituting & removing English texts AND English-speaking expatriate communities leave Less English text inside Japan. • foreign katakana words from Japanese. New media development (eg. audiovisual: radio). NHK English-langauge broadcasts from 1935 & Restrictions on English from abroad. 1930s – hiatus/cut in school English education. propaganda in English during War. Japanese military intelligence code-breaking. Contact with English large decline in Japan. Figure 8: Tradition-Setting Wave of Contact with English in Japan 1880s-1920s – Japanese cultural reaction against foreign cultural & political incursions. Tradition-Adding Wave - Current Modern Period of Contact with English in Japan Spoken Written 1945-50s – Allied occupation Influx of military & civil administration bringing English Interaction at institutional, commercial, administrative, cultural, local levels with military & civil personnel from overseas. American English from foreign personnel, media (eg. Far East Network radio). 1950s-70s – cultural, technology, economic boom Hollywood movie titles & movies with subtitles, 1950-53 - Korean War – Japan sa UN supply base American popular music, advertising, other 1952 – return of civil administration autonomy cultural phenomena in mass media. 1959 – Tokyo gets Olympic Games (5 years later.) English conversation programs on radio & TV. 1970 – World Expo in Osaka (goes for 6 months) Special purpose English courses for 1972- Sapporo Winter Olympics. international events. 1998- Nagano Winter Olympics. Local level individuals’ contact with English 2002 – World Cup Soccer (coordinating with Sth speakers. Korea). Local level English-speaking societies, clubs, 66 Signs, other public print media texts in English. School English education restarts – similar to pre-War yakudoku translation learning approach. Katakana words return and expand in Japanese. Massive increase in contact with English: •expanding range of new scientific & cultural fields mediated with English (eg. sport, technology, science) Large increase in texts explaining Japan in •international events in Japan enhance contact with English at institutional and local levels English (& other languages). •expanding English education. Increasingly texts incorporating English (eg. signs, packaging, product names, advertising, Greatly enhanced position, role, status of print media) on display or available. Japan in world causing greater contact with English from inside and outside of Japan. English/Conversation textbooks boom. Range of Japanese phomemes (in katakana) More scope for interactions incurring English. expanding to incorporate words from other English in Japan circles. languages. Belief in needing English to deal with Americans, affecting people’s choices about the English 1960s-80s – large outgrowth of private juku More extensive contact with English in international context: which they prefer to have contact with. cram schools, private English conversation • people going overseas encountering English / other languages for business, politics, education Increasingly apparent Japanese variety of schools: • large increase in interest and visitors from overseas for leisure, culture, business. English – in lexis, NOT syntax. School-university education & private sector English education evolving as main context for - English as university, school entrance exam contact with English in Japan. subject influencing purpose and type of English Increasing English (& other) words& expressions entering in current usage in Japanese – people have contact with in school education lexical items, especially in technological & cultural fiends PLUS expansion of Japanese phonemics - ‘Internationalization’ as a new ideological range. basis for seeking (contact with) English (-speaking people). Late 1980s on – economic affluence of Japan More likely contact with English from Increasing contact with Korean & Chinese - great increase of international travel for non-Japanese people (increasingly not from languages, Japanese (especially students, working holiday English speaking countries) Increasing contact with English text in use of BUT Contact with English ostensibly young people. new electronic media, internet. Audiovisual & electronic media technology in JET scheme assistant language teachers to inescapable in current era mass market, internet. schools nationwide PLUS ‘Oral Communication’ curriculum. 1987 on – government JET Scheme initiative 2000s – large & international companies using Adapted English lexis freely heard/read in katakana form in Japanese popular music, English at work. media, sport & other cultural & social fields. Figure 9: Historical Timeline of People’s Contact with English in Japan: tradition-adding wave 67 English in Japan Dates / Events/ Periods 1613-23 Early & mid 19th Century. – incidental isolated contacts with foreign individuals 1850s-80s dramatic increase in interaction with foreigners & foreign countries 1880s-1930s Modern education curriculum incl. English 1930s-40s 1900s-60s Anti-western cultural view discouraging English 1945 – Allied occupation, reconstruction 1960s-80s Economic recovery, greater affluence. More international events. 1987 - JET Scheme initiative. 1990sInternet, email, social 2010smedia. Spoken English Written English English East India Company merchants and local staff in Hirado & Osaka – perhaps less than 50 people in Japan using English – insignificant. Portuguese, Chinese predominant. Translation Centers in Nagasaki & Edo from 1811. Ostensibly primarily written language. Negligible scope for spoken language use. No notable indigenous English texts produced yet in Japan. Foreign experts, missionaries, traders Dramatic increase in scientific, cultural, speaking English with each other & local literary, political, legal, military text Japanese more than other languages. translation into Japanese. Japanese going abroad for learning. Economic, business transactions in English. Spoken English mainly for international communication purposes. Public school English education with focus on translation to Japanese as method. New media (phonograph, film, radio) scope Local, national English-language press for English broadcasting, some import of (eg Japan Times) operated by expat foreign music, but low level local use. foreigners, but low level. Translation as major use of English for economic & cultural uses and education. Comments on USE of English Disparate English. From 1620s suppression of foreign cultural practices & languages. Application of traditional learning models: inquiry; and reliance on texts containing recorded knowledge requiring translation. Ports (eg Kobe, Yokohama) & main cities as centers for English use, study & translation. Public and intellectual prioritizing of investing in foreign culture, practices & knowledge, particularly through English. New semantics from European languages reflecting heavy cultural importation from, especially from English. Reaction and swing back against foreignsourced cultural phenomena with growing confidence Japanese nationalism and conscious focus on local needs for English. English-sourced vocab entering Japanese. Shift from British to American acrolectal native-speaker model. School exams as purpose to study English. English to Japanese translation remains main school learning model. Increasing inroads by foreign culture, esp. American. Renewed conscious need for English as cultural, political, economic & technological recovery. English as exam subject up to university. Greater amount of translating Japanese to English, with technology and other exports from Japan. English as lingua franca in some institutions. New electronic, online media giving wider English sourced words, expressions used in scope for language learning and increased Japanese as having lost its ‘Englishness’ access to local and foreign texts New media permitting individuals to customize Computer games, online chat and phone language forms used. services, mobile phone applications Figure 10: Historical Timeline Showing Developments in People’s Use of English in Japan Sudden large increase in English-speaking foreigner population. Large increase in private conversation schools, programs on radio and new TV media. English in local popular music Public education policy for communicative oral English (measured success). 68 English in Japan My seminar student, who investigated wasei eigo, also considered the history of English in Japan. In the end she made this graph showing the amount of English in Japan at different times. As you can see, she has separated Contact with’ and Use of’ English. Also, as you probably can see, they are not the same – much more contact with than Use of English. One problem with this analysis is of course, how much Use of English is enough to matter (and also how much contact of English makes enough contact with English)? The answer to how much Use is enough, is ‘regular’ use. That means that in a person’s everyday life English is used, not just once in a while. Where, how and why people use English in Japan is discussed and described in a later chapter. Even so, why the pattern in the graph, do you think? 69 English in Japan 3a. History of English in Japan 1– Contact with English as Contact with Texts 3 a i. Linguistic and Anthropological Ideas about Contact with English So, what is so special about Contact with English? The easy answer is that a person does not need to have any knowledge of English to have contact with it. English is just part of the cultural environment. But if a person does know some English, then contact with English becomes important, because it can be meaningful. But as was seen before with the Japlish phenomenon, people can have contact with English in the middle of Japanese discourse – as the English word or expression has lost its Englishness (eg meaning, pronunciation and normal context for it may have changed) and become Japanese. This is the amorphization idea which was discussed a lot in the last two lectures Contact can be Contact with English is necessary also if a person is going to learn English. In fact in Japan most (or all) people have had contact with English through learning it, at school or outside of school. social (eg. I send an email to you) and also environmental This idea of contact with a language (eg. English) is not new. Leo Loveday, a professor at Doshisha University in Kyoto wrote a PhD thesis and turned it into a book called Language Contact in Japan (Loveday 1996). Like me later, in his chapters he deals with Chinese, other Asian and European languages as well as English, and he has chapters called things like ‘Gairaigo: Alien Vocabulary’, ‘Lexical Absorption (1959-1990)’, ‘The Context of Internationalization’, ‘The Institutional Context’, ‘Innovating Forces in the Community: Technology, Commerce, and the Media’, ‘Code-Switching and Code-Mixing’, and ‘Remodelling English’. He has a couple of chapters about Non-Japanese Sounds and grammar, which are looked at later in these lectures. (eg. I see a tree, a stopsign or hear an English song). Language in communication is a social thing, but just eharing or seeing a text by chance is only indirectly social, but it certainly is environmental. In the last chapter I showed Loveday’s ideas about how people have language contact stragegies (Figure 5), but that is actually a list of how people USE English. So, why do I mention Loveday’s chapters? Well, to give some support to my idea of the spread of contact with English. One other reason is to give a couple of alternative terms, different from some terms I use in these lectures. For example, ‘remodelling English’ is pretty similar to Stanlaw’s (2004) term ‘remade in Japan’, and a bit similar to my term amorphization. The difference is that amorphization is more a natural or unconsciously occurring process and not so much a process which people decide to do. But otherwisese are similar. 70 English in Japan One other difference between my idea about contact with a second or other language is that the language becomes part of the cultural environment without people being conscious of any meaning in it. However I think that once people start to notice something like a meaning and to think about it and to maybe be affected or do something as a result, then the emphasis shifts to this action or process – use of the language. Linguistics experts call this kind of thing interlanguage (Selinkar 1972), which Loveday (1996) mentions too (p 13,15) as one process that can happen with contact with people using a new language (together with borrowing, mixing and other processes). An extra perspective (discussed in the previous chapter) which makes Loveday’s understanding of contact with English is the contact what people have contact with. Loveday (like most other socioplinguists is interested in social contact. – people are not having contact with texts so much as contact with other people using the language, who are trying to communicate something to them. I do not go so far – I am just interested in contact with the (English) the texts. Texts of course are part of the language culture, artifacts from the culture itself. They become part of a person’s environment. This is the direct environment, like air, trees, concrete, a stop sign, traffic lights and music in the suepermarket. The social aspect becomes just indirect - of course things like stopsigns and songs playing on the PA in the supermarket are made by people using language. But I want to think only about the direct environment just now. To illustrate, in Figure 11 from Loveday’s (1996) book, there is a continuum of contact, from very much on the right (ie “maximal”, “Massive”, “Diglossic bilingual” and “Language-shifting”) down just a little on the left side (ie “minimal”, “Small-scale”, “Distant/dominant non-bilingual”) (p 13). For me, Contact with English is even more to the left: from just consciousness of texts existence in the cultural environment. For example noticing a sign with different style writing. Just noticing that it is different, and not yet even noticing that it is English. There are chapters about the history of contact with English in both Loveday’s and (1996. Chapter 3) and Stanlaw’s (2004 Chapter 3) books, and references to these detailed examinations are made in the continuing lectures below. Summary of Lecture 3 (1) Section 3a So, in these lectures, contact with English is just contact with English texts. But it does include contact with texts being produced by people in real time, written (eg. electronic texts like chat) and spoken (eg. like me speaking these English-language lectures to you now). My view is more anthropological than linguistic I think. This is where my ideas are a bit different from Loveday’s and Stanlaw’s. Later, when I start to focus on the people and the language they use or choose to use, of course I call this use of English. This is where my ideas become more linguistic, similar to Loveday’s (1996) and Stanlaw’s (2004) 71 English in Japan Figure 11: Types of Contact with Languages, from a Linguistic Perspective: (Source: Loveday 1996. Table 1.1 p 13) 72 English in Japan 3b. History of English in Japan 2– Contact with English 3 b. i Early Insignificant Contact with English: dispelling myths Arguably the first English to be sensed in Japan was heard, and even then probably not even noticed. Arguably it would have been outside of Japan, by Japanese wako pirates in the mid-16th Century, who used to maraud down as far as modern Indonesia and beyond in the Japanese winters, coming back in the direction of Japan when the winds changed direction in the summers. They would probably have encountered English pirates or other seamen on Spanish or Portuguese ships sailing semi-permanently around the South China Sea or the Spice Islands in eastern Indonesia. They would have fought each with or even killed each other, and learning English (or Japanese) would not have been on their minds. The Portuguese and Spanish were the first Europeans to get involved with Japanese in the 1540s. After the late 1570s (the time of Francis Drake’s circumnavigation – sailing round the world – and he was just an officially-sanctioned pirate), other European sea vessels (Dutch, French and English) started to appear, with any mix of European language-speaking crews. So, English was not important at all, compared to Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and maybe a Portuguese-Persi an-Malay-Chinese pidgin/creole. English came along much later. But this is the point: there was NO serious ADVANCE OF ENGLISH INTO JAPAN. There was just a tiny bit of contact with English and a lot more contact with other non-Japanese languages. Languages do not march into a country and then just happen. People come and bring their culture with them: language is a part of culture and it needs people to be able to exist. Actually, I don’t know why I am talking so much about this bit of old history. I think it is because so many people now have an idea that English was always very important in the world, and in Japan. If you are interested in English, you need to know it all really happened much later in the nineteenth century, after 1808. But we need to deal with a few myths and a few people. i. English was not significant at all. In those early days it was Portuguese or Spanish which mattered, later Dutch. For example, there was a kind of Portuguese-based creole, mixed with some other European and Asian languages like Arabic and Malay and Persian which Europeans and others tended to use as a lingua franca or contact language, even in places like Nagasaki. Portuguese people spoke Portuguese or Spanish with one another; Dutch spoke Dutch to one another and English (they were not even British then!) spoke English to one another. And Japanese spoke Japanese to one another, sometimes Portuguese but more likely Chinese with the non-Japanese people. Even after the Christianity movement started after the 1580s and 73 English in Japan begin to influence some local daimyo’s and communities in south western Japan, it was most often Spanish plus Japanese. Also, soon after the English left in 1623, the Tokugawa government in Japan got rid of Christianity, Spanish, English and everything anyway, except for a Dutch factory on Deshima in Nagasaki (sometimes called ‘Dejima’ outside of Nagasaki), and some Chinese and Portuguese who were not allowed outside of a small area in Nagasaki Port either. ii. William Adams (Miura Anjin) (1564 – 1620) was an Englishman who actually seems more Japanese. In the year 1600, a Dutch ship brought William Adams (whose character was renamed Blackthorne in James Clavell’s novel Shogun which was dramatized on TV in the early 1980s). As pilot (ie. the navigator or the person who steered) and highest ranking member of a crew of a Dutch ship, Adams arrived in Bungo (Oita) in Kyushu. He later settled in various places: Hirado north of Nagasaki (where an English trading company had a factory from 1613 till 1623), an estate in Yokosuka south of modern Yokohama, and he had a house in Edo. In curious circumstances he had fallen in with the Tokugawas who, lucky for him, came out on top at the end of the Momoyama Era of itinerant civil wars in Japan. Adams took on a Japanese name (Miura Anjin) and Japanese customs, which was only appropriate for one who became a useful favourite of the Shogun. Initial contact with Japanese people was in Portuguese, which was the main lingua franca for Japanese and Europeans (Varley 1984 p 192), Later Adams picked up Japanese, only using Dutch, English and Portuguese with other Europeans. So, the English that Adams spoke and wrote to other Europeans possibly was the first English IN Japan – disparate English! Just a tiny bit, and it really does not matter. So, from 100 to So, if you think that William Adams was the first person to bring English to Japan, maybe you are right. But, if you think that people were all speaking English around him, you are dead wrong. The only people who were speaking English were about between four or seven English traders and their staff in Hirado near Nagasaki, from 1613 till 1623, and English sailors who visited from time to time. Giles Milton (2002) wrote a book about William Adams called Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan. Even 1623, Adams William used Japanese most of the time, Richard Cocks used English but after Cocks left, English in Japan the title is dead wrong. First, Japan had always been open till then. Second, if the writer is talking about Europeans, actually Portuguese arrived in Japan died in Japan in 1542, more than 50 years before William Adams. Portuguese was a much until 1808. more important language than English was. Also, there were more Portuguese, and Dutch, and Spanish people in Japan and none of them had any reason to speak or even to know any English language. Hirado is just a small place up around the north west coast of Kyushu from Nagasaki, which was a much bigger where all the Spanish, Portuguese (and Chinese) traders and Christian missionaries were. And even Nagasaki was 74 English in Japan not very big. iii. Richard Cocks (1566 – 1624) was the one who spoke English most of the time. Not William Adams Cocks was in charge of the English trading settlement in Hirado probably. This small settlement had on average about 5 English men (some died, some left, one or two new ones arrived, they all drank a lot and all had local ‘girlfriends’) there at any time, from 1613 until 1623. Cocks was what they used to call a ‘factor’ and their settlement was called a ‘factory’, and it was owned by the English East India Company which sort of owned almost all English trade in South and East Asia. The English East India Company would become hugely rich 200 years later when they took control in much of India and enter China. But in 1613, it was a very small weak company, and the Dutch and Portuguese were much stronger and richer, and the Portuguese and Spanish were together as Christian (Catholic) missionaries in Nagasaki. They hated the English (who were not Catholic) and were always trying to get the local Japanese daimyo to kill the English. It seems that Richard Cocks did not pick up Japanese very much, but he was able to become good friends with the local daimyo in Hirado, which saved the English from being killed by Spanish and Dutch people at different times. Milton (2002) mentions that some of their local staff picked up English and acted as interpreters, and he mentions that all the Englishmen took local Japanese lovers who may have picked up some real pidgin English. And there was a much bigger Dutch factory in Hirado anyway. The Dutch and the English sometimes were friends and sometimes were enemies – whichever, probably they spoke a mix of Dutch, English, Portuguese and even Japanese with each other at different times. Consequently, despite some Japanese having some contact with English in the north of Kyushu, English did not really become a phenomenon in Japanese culture at that time. Japanese people had a lot more contact with Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch and even Latin – as the Catholic religious language – than English at that time. However, it is interesting that beyond the myth of Adams bringing Japanese into contact with English, actually English did become used by one group of people in Japan at this time, English and other European traders. But it does not seem to have been a lingua franca, because other languages were used more, other language cultures were stronger, other language communities were larger. However, for English people and other Europeans who stayed (such as in the Christian Jesuit missionary community), it was more they taking on Japanese culture than the other way round. The gravestone of William Adams in Hirado (in Figure 12 below. He died in 1620.) is itself a metaphor for this. 75 English in Japan Figure 12: "Grave of Anjin Miura" (William Adams), Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Interestingly no English! Why? Because he had become Japanese. (Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MiuraAnjinNoHaka.jpg、viewed 11 March 2009) 3 b. ii. Dutch and English during Japan’s Closed Period: 1635 to the 1850s. For a mixture of reasons, mostly political, some cultural, the Tokugawa government shut the rest of the world out of Japan in 1635, except for a diluted flow of commerce and information mainly thorough the Dutch in Nagasaki. Information of the outside world seep in bit by bit though. So it was Dutch which was not just a language of contact but also it was used in Japan, perhaps more than Portuguese and Spanish before it. In this sense, messages and information in Dutch was useful and valued, despite official Tokugawa (and Japanese cultural) antipathy towards outsiders. Indeed Dutch seems to have been influencing Japanese in ways similar to English later on. Stanlaw (2004 p p48) claims pronoun usage in Japanese became extensive following translation of Dutch treatises in the early 18th Century. I have my doubts about this, in as far as the school of Dutch learning was severely undervalued in Japan until the So, by about 19th Century (Varley 1984). Varley also notes the prolonged use of 1780 some Portuguese as a language of exchange (p 192) and also that much Western intellectuals scientific knowledge entered Japan through translations from European knew a little languages into Chinese and then into Japanese. Further, the Dutch were kept bit about right at arms length, at Dejima – symbolically an island in Nagasaki harbor English as a where it is called ‘Dejima’, people call it ‘Deshima’ in other parts of Japan. It is ‘new’ European still one of the most remote places in Japan. For Dutch to affect the syntax of language, but Japanese in such a strong way would require it not only to be used 76 nobody English knew English in Japan extensively, but also accepted widely. Both of these things did not happen – they only happened with English much, much later. However, Varley makes an interesting observation that it was through medicine (and other scientific curiosity) in which various individuals (both Japanese and eminent physicians who arrived as resident doctors on ships as well as the outpost at Dejima) industriously pursued knowledge, which naturally was always going to come from the outside. Initially Dutch was primary, but steadily English books began to be brought to Japan, certainly from the early 19th Century. Many of these Japanese and non-Japanese ‘doctors’ wrote letters to each other but they were not members of any institution. 3 b. iii. Sudden Contact with English: Impact of the Phaeton Incident, 1808. An institution was eventually set up – perhaps as a result of Tokugawa paranoia than curiosity. In 1808 during the European Napoleonic wars, a British ship, HMS Phaeton, arrived in Nagasaki disguising itself with Dutch flags. This was a time of loud, confident imperious Englishness – very different from the small group at Hirado 200 years before. It was the time of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, and it was British government-sanctioned policy ultimately to conduct business in English as much as possible, which according to So, the 1808 Koscielecki (2000) caused many problems for Dutch-speaking Phaeton Incident interpreters in Nagasaki. One problem was that Japanese officials in is important for Nagasaki first thought that the British were speaking Dutch – because two reasons: they thought that all people like that spoke Dutch. The British stayed a political and couple of days, took some food and water after holding some people on cultural shock to Dejima as hostages, and then sailed away. One effect of the 3-way language confusion was that after a couple of years, in 1811, a translation office was set up - in relative isolation, in Nagasaki. A couple of months later a second translation office was established in Edo (Tokyo) by the Tokugawa government. Stanlaw (2004) describes how local Japanese officials were ordered to study English (with Russian and French), with grammar works and dictionaries all being produced by the same translation offices within a couple of years (pp 49-50, Shimizu 2010 p 7). Also mentioned in the next section). This is interesting because this is similar to how people in Japan started learning and teaching English in the late 19th and 20th centuries – translating and also making and using their own texts. the government, and the government’s reaction - they set up translation schools for a few languages which were European, including English Another interesting thing is that these first government foreign language institutions eventually turned into Tokyo University and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Stanlaw (2004) provides a timeline of the history of these two institutions detailing this history 77 all English in Japan (reproduced in Figure 8 below). The HMS Phaeton left after about six days, but the impact on Japan at the top was significant. First, the local Tokugawa bakufu (shogunate) administrator had to kill himself for letting English barbarians get away. Some other people were embarrassed because the Tokugawa bakufu government was not able to protect Japan. No local Japanese people could communicate with these powerful English-speaking people except the Dutch who just seemed very wimpy – so English seemed more impressive than Dutch from that time on. So, from the traumatic experience of contact with English in 1808, Thus, within 3 years translation schools had been set up in Nagasaki and in Edo. The languages chosen for attention – English, Dutch, French, Russian and Chinese - tell a lot about priorities of the Tokugawa government. Portuguese was not there, even in Nagasaki where Portuguese (and Chinese) people were actually allowed to live in the town-proper and not isolated like the Dutch on Dejima (Burke-Gaffney 2009). Also, Russian, as Japanese and Russian people were beginning to have contact and face off in the north, over Hokkaido. Japanese people at the top realized that they lacked communication ability if they ever had to deal with violent and threatening outsiders again. This is why the Americans arriving under Perry in 1850s is the only So, there is another big myth about the American navy arriving near Edo in 1853 and 1854 being the big shock that changed everything for Japan. Another shock was heard through the Chinese who also could go to Nagasaki – the Chinese had just lost a three-year war with the British (the first Opium War) in 1842. This shock was that big-brother-in-Asia-China could lose to these Europeans, these ‘English’, an unthinkable development. So, the importatnt because the American ‘black ships’ were a shock, but not the first shock and not the first contact, and they did not change everything. technological, government used English some which people could use to communicate. Any shock the Americans gave was political and not linguistic. Put it this way: some students who had been studying English in the translation school in Edo became the people who dealt directly in English with the Americans in 1853 and 1854, whereas in 1808 the Japanese had to depend on Japanese-speaking Dutchmen. Yes, things had already been changing, but things just began to change much more and faster after 1853. 78 English in Japan Figure 13: Historic Timeline of Japanese Foreign Language Institutions, specifically Tokyo University and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Source: Stanlaw 2004 p 51) 79 English in Japan 3 b. iv. Dutch and other Language Learning by people in Japan up to the 1850s. A couple of other interesting things regarding contact with English happened in the wake of the Phaeton Incident. One is that the assistant of the Dutch Director of Dejima became effectively the first English teacher in Japan (according to Burke-Gaffney 2009, his name was Bloenhoef). Not an English native speaker, but he taught vocabulary and formulaic expressions and so on at the Nagasaki translation school orally without any textbooks. At that time, all pronunciation was mediated through Dutch and any spelling also – think of it this way – Japanese people at the translation center in Nagasaki were learning to speak English with strong Dutch accents! According to Shimizu (2010), when Canadian stowaway Ranald MacDonald (mentioned later) was brought to Nagasaki before being thrown out of Japan in 1848, one task he was put to was correcting entrenched Dutch-style pronunciations – students from the translation school would be lined up before his cell and they would repeat and otherwise study English from him, Before 1808, there was a arguably the first native speaking English teacher in Japan. tradition of interest and study of western culture. Actually, from a tradition of studying Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Dutch for centuries before, the small number of Japanese people who studied languages were actually fairly systematic about learning English from the start, and especially with the very meager resources available. For instance, coming from Dutch study, Shimizu (2010) observes a dual tradition: • practical language – say learning for day-to-day contact with traders and similar people • academic – similar to yakudoku (translation method) which Though focused on being able to glean knowledge from Dutch books. One relevant example cited by Shimizu is a Dutch translation of a 1724 British English grammar book, Sewel’s Korte Wegwyzer der Engelsche, which was adapted by Shozaemon Motoki as Angeria-kogaku-shosen, published in 1811 (Shimizu, 2010 p 7), three years after the Phaeton Incident. until 1808 Englishwas interest relatively small, approaches practices with was to for texts and dealing in languages other formed: basic-level communication translation. and However, not included. So, when English came with the British ship, HMS Phaeton, to Nagasaki, English was very, very new.: a surprise, a shock! Shimizu (pp 5-6) states quite clearly that language (learning)-as-tool was the primary motive of Japanese language study from centuries before English. Interestingly, this correlates with the idea of English as lingua franca idea discussed in the first lecture. It means that if they did not need English, they would not have been so eager for it. But not quite lingua franca as people might use English at a tourist market, as a convenient way to communicate. At that time, there was recognition that things could be learned through foreign languages for advancement and betterment of things in Japan. 3b.v Early Tradition of English Learning and Learning English: a comment Consequently, according to Shimizu’s view, people in Japan could just get on with it in these 80 English in Japan established ways. Communication was not a priority – there certainly were very few people with whom anybody in Japan needed to communicate with up until the 1850s and 60s, and only a few people in Japan needed to do that communication. Rather, re-encoding knowledge, information, ideas into Japanese was a goal – therefore translation. It is this limited goal which shows how English in Japan was not the lingua franca-type situation most linguistic people are comfortable with. Until the late 19th Some people thought about English, many people had contact with century, a few English texts, but most people did not use English at all until the (maybe fewer than twentieth century. 100) interested people in For all intents and purposes, things were going along in this way in translating and about 1850: reading some • Japanese interpreters learning English with Dutch accents, books in English • some progress working out grammar and lexis of English and other • gleaning what ever they could from Dutch and even some English languages is not books which had made it to Japan – according to Shimizu (2010 p 7) the same as a people did not worry too much about distinguishing the two whole nation • language study centers were established in at least one point of taking up English. contact (Nagasaki) and also in the heart of Japan, in Edo Most people did • but very definitely not any work on how to translate all that not know and did Japanese into English or into any other language not care less. Yet, in 1853, how many people knew any English or used English? My estimate is maybe less than 100, but probably closer to 200 if we consider private individual scholars studying English texts as a hobby. Anyway, probably many more people than in 1620. Then suddenly, first in Shimoda in 1853, then in Edo in 1854, the American Admiral Mathew Perry suddenly arrived with fleets of ‘black ships’. From this point Dutch disappears into Japanese history. Rather, it is at this point when, not just English but Americans speaking English were encountered. From then on, at the top as well as at the bottom of Japanese society and culture, things began to change. The things that changed did NOT include learning and using English – that happened later. Rather it was experiencing and taking up new things and also deciding which new things to keep and which ones not to keep. Before noting how things changed, the significance of certain individuals needs to be considered. 3 b. vi. Individuals Bringing English, a Culture of English (or something like it) to Japan Already William Adams has been mentioned, and he (like all the others) was no pioneering hero of English in Japan. Indeed, he ‘went native’, and it probably saved his life. Boxer (1981) 81 Maybe English in Japan describes two types of European who came to Japan before they all (except the Dutch) were banned in 1635: visitors who kept their own culture but later left, like the head of the East India Company’s Hirado factory, Richard Cocks; and “’naturalised Japanners’” (Boxer 1981 p 22) like Adams. It seems William Adams used Japanese, much much more than Portuguese, Dutch, let alone English. Still he is perhaps the first of these individuals around whom language-bearer myths exist. There are lots of others – most before about 1640 - and I shall mention a few of these. the interesting most thing about John Manjiro is that he knew how to speak, but not read and write it in Japanese. Probably he was better at reading and writing in English. He is unusual in this way and so we cannot Varley (1984) mentions an Italian, Sidotti, a Christian missionary who think about him in learned some Japanese in Manila who made it into Japan in 1708, and the same way as the better known Engelbert Kaempfer, a German physician who went other people from with the Dutch representatives from Dejima to Edo twice in the 1690s. Japan at this time. More well known still is Philipp Franz von Siebold, a German in Dutch service in the 1820s, who also travelled about (and whose Japanese-born daughter became the first female doctor in Japan (Doolan, 2000 p 39), and who has a private university in Nagasaki named after him). Regarding English, it is quite possible none of these people spoke it, though of course they may have been able to read it. Yet, Boxer (1981 pp 24 – 25) describes liaisons between European, East Indian and African men on the one hand and Japanese women (usually as procured women or simply prostitutes, who were forbidden to leave Japan) on the other. He notes that frequently after the men left Japan, these women would maintain correspondence with them for years later, some letters being displayed in modern Dutch museums. Of obvious interest would be the language/s in which they would have been written, but predictably English may not have been one of them i. Nakahama Manjiro (‘John Manjiro’) Regarding English, Nakahama Manjiro (‘John Manjiro’) from south western Shikoku (present-day Kochi Prefecture), just a kid going fishing with his four mates in 1841, gets shipwrecked then rescued by American whalers (suggesting that though foreigners may not enter Japan, they were not afraid to go in close at this time). Incidentally, it seems that Manjiro did not write or read Japanese muc if at all when he was young. Manjiro gets taken to Massachusetts of all places (on the US north east coast). It seems that the first time he learned or was taught to read and write it was English and not Japanese. He began learning on the ship that found him. Anyway, he gets to go to school in the United States learning various technological things like navigation, seamanship, and English. Later, he gets some money together and returns to Japan, in Okinawa, in 1851 and perhaps surprisingly is allowed back to Kochi in 1853, where he is treated as a ‘Dutch-school-of-learning’ expert, but is watched by the government. Then, with the shock of Perry and his ‘black ships’ right in the heart of Japanese public control in Edo, the Tokugawa reach out to Kochi (and Nagasaki too) to get what help they can to deal with the new visitors. And so, he had a new role to play, 82 English in Japan translating and inter-culture communication (though the Americans had gone by the time Manjiro was contacted). Later, Manjiro seems to have actually sailed the Kanrin-maru to San Francisco (talked about later) after the rest of the crew got sick on the first Japanese government-sponsored mission to the United States. He went to Europe as well to learn, came back and taught navigation and other technical subjects, translated similar texts, and then later becomes one of the first professors at Tokyo University (The Manjiro Society). Manjiro’s contribution was contact with English culture, contact with English texts, and becoming a model for use of English and I believe that he achieved these things without planning to. To sum up, he did more for the spread and contact with English than anyone else at this time. ii. Ranald MacDonald One young eccentric North American individual was a similarly young American boy who planned to arrive in Japan. Stanlaw (2004 p 50) recounts how Ranald MacDonald, carrying an English dictionary and grammar book, arrived after being gratefully cast adrift off Hokkaido by another American whaling ship in 1848. He was captured, taken all the Ranald Macdonald way down south to Dejima in Nagasaki and kicked out of Japan the is also unusual: following year. Before that happened, MacDonald did make the first being obsessed with Romaji Japanese-English dictionary in Japan, with an illustration in a teaching English in later lecture in Figure . This dictionary is interesting for the way Japanese Japan(!!!) and not sounded to MacDonald and the spelling he used for the local Nagasaki Christianity. The dialect words he lists in his handwritten dictionary. MacDonald and his most significant ‘dictionary’ are discussed more in the next lecture and also in Lecture 5 thing he did was his on writing systems in Japan. Japanese MacDonald becomes the closest to being the pioneering hero of English of the myths: while interned in Nagasaki he appears to have taught several Japanese interpreters, among whom were three interpreters who interacted with Perry in 1854 and who went on the Kanrin-maru mission (with Manjiro) in 1860. which word-list he wrote without any guide to spelling – he used his own English spelling rules to write Japanese! There is a picture of The surprising thing is that none of these people were killed. It may be it in Chapter 4. symptomatic of changes in attitude by the government that people with experience with people outside of Japan and communication with them were useful, and later essential. However nobody, even MacDonald, had any primary mission to bring English to Japan. English in Japan was an effect, not a cause. For instance, Manjiro went fishing, and ended up bringing back some books which made an impact: Webster’s Dictionary and a 20-volume work on Navigation. The ‘English’ as a phenomenon did not come first – it was always information and knowledge first, from the very early days on. But most of it was in English, so English was 83 English in Japan needed to decode it, so English came and stayed. iv. James Hepburn One final individual is another doctor and missionary, an American, who also came to Japan by chance and settled in Yokohama in 1859. He had originally planned to go to Siam (Thailand) then later China. This was James Curtis Hepburn, who after being not allowed to practice medicine in the European settlement in Yokohama set to work on translating the Bible, studying, and codifying Japanese in Roman script. His wife had an English school too. For these things, maybe James Hepburn is the only person with a special interest in English in Japan who came to Japan. And even he Like Ranald developed the interest after he got to Japan, not before. Macdonald, James Hepburn made a Eventually by 1867 he had contributed to a Romanization script (Biography of Chinese Christianity). This is significant because it was still the time before modernization in the Meiji Period started. Later, in 1887, on about the third attempt, this writing system (the ヘボンしき or hebonshiki or ‘Hepburn system’) was submitted as a public way standard (ultimately rejected in favour of another standard, the 訓令 くんれい kunrei ‘government system’ – discussed later in Lecture 5). This has happened a few times in recent history, most recently in 1994. He also produced one of the first English-Japanese Japanese-English dictionaries by a non-Japanese (an earlier one had been produced by a Dutch scholar in the Dutch East Indies in about 1830 (Stanlaw 2004)). Also, all this while his wife was running an English school in Yokohama. Altogether he was in Japan for over 40 years. was taken up by to write Japanese based on an English phonemic system – English sounds. His system some like institutions the railways before the Japanese government theuir system. chose Kunrei Although the Kunrei system is a non-English, still lots of people think it As an individual, Hepburn appears to be the only one discussed here is English, only who conscientiously worked with language as his life purpose. Also, because it is ‘romazi perhaps he is the only one in this period who had enough vision to ‘(‘romaji’). see how codification of Japanese and English was going to facilitate people’s communication in the present then and in the future. Probably it was some inherent problems in his system which prohibited it from being accepted as the official standard – for instance with long vowels such as おう /ou/, おお /o:/ and simple お /o/ all being represented by ‘o’). This much alone shows a tendency to reproduce Japanese sounds in an English phonemic way with less definitive English spelling rules - a natural bias in any case. Still, it raises the question at this point too: to what extent was (and is) Japanese able to be represented appropriately using English phonemes? Hepburn is significant for contact with English because he was the first person to codify how Japanese would look if it was written like English. This is why I mention Hepburn here in the 84 English in Japan Contact with English lecture – after Hepburn, people in Japan could start to have contact with English in texts which were not written in roman script., most importantly in a standardized way At the same time, he was showing what many English sounds would be like to Japanese if they saw English words written and then could compare them with more familiar Japanese words written using Hepburn’s English phonemics-based system. Hepburn’s career represents a time when Japanese cultural institutions finally began to take a directive interest in English, and where English does become an issue and a part of Japanese public cultural life. It is a time when Japanese people were having increasing contact with English and also were beginning to use it. How this grew and matured when Japanese national identity reacted to contact with modern foreign cultural incursions is the topic of the next section. So far only Nakayama (John) Manjiro is the only person who came from Japan who is mentioned as a significant individual. There are a couple of other people though. They are not significant for what they achieved (though these are among the most famous people from the mid and late 19th century in Japan), they are significant for what they realized: v Sakamoto Ryoma These days (around 2010) ‘Ryoma’ is perhaps the most inspiring person in Japanese popular culture because he is remembered as a ‘doer’ and because there Sakamoto Ryoma had to is some tragedy surrounding his life and his myth. He was born in hide in an Englishman’s Kochi City, in a Samurai family, went away to study swordsmanship house in Nagasaki while and other bushido stuff, fell in with some politically active people in he was an outlaw. Maybe the 1840s and 1850s, and began to see that some solutions to he learned a couple of problems in Japan could come from the outside. After being English expresions like involved in naval and other military ‘academies’ in western Japan, ‘gun’, ‘Thank you’, etc.. be fell in with some anti-Tokugawa groups, spent some time in He is significant only Nagasaki (in Glover House as ‘guest’ of British ‘merchant’ Thomas because he understood Glover) where he acquired his famous boots and handgun (seen in that solutions to Japan’s the famous photo of him all over Kochi City and in other places in problems would come Japan). He also helped acquire many weapons form overseas to from the outside, which supply groups mainly in Kyushu who would threaten and effect the is where English came end of the Tokugawa bakufu regime. from. Just coincidence – nothing special. Regarding English in Japan, Ryoma is significant because he looked outside Japan for inspiration and solutions to problems in Japan, and also wrote about that (in Japanese). In Nagasaki, he had contact with English culture and texts, but there seems no record of any English which he used (maybe just formulaic English like ‘Thank you’ and things like that). Why significant then? He had contact with English but did not use English. Why didn’t Ryoma 85 English in Japan use English? I speculate here: perhaps he just did not need to – people around him may have used English for him or instead of him. Still, he got his boots and his handgun from outside of Japan – perhaps because he did have use for them, but not English. Ryoma was far more concerned with things happening around him in Japan and got killed in Kyoto in 1867 as a result of them. He and others just did not need English for the necessary communication in those contexts. Perhaps as simple as that. vi Fukuzawa Yukichi In 1994 I had my first short academic paper published, entitled Some Foreign Language Teaching Problems in Japan Are Not New’ (Doyle 1994). In researching it, I came across Yukichi (because he was notable before the Meiji Restoration when the custom for saying Japanese names changed, I call him the same old-fashioned way that I call Ryoma), who had a kind of juku. Yukichi was a scholar of Dutch learning but later became an English teacher (Ike 1995, Shimizu 2010), and later his (private) school, Keio Gijuku, became Keio University which is perhaps the best regarded private university in Japan. According to Ike (1995) English started to be taught there from 1862. Why is Yukichi significant? For me, two reasons: one is he represents non-government, private efforts and trends – a kind of bottom-up effort to get to grips with English; second relates to why. There is an anecdote from his autobiography (published in 1899, and quoted in Loveday 1996) about Yukichi arriving in Yokohama in 1858 and Though more encountering ‘foreigners’: … I found myself a perfect stranger: they did not understand me and I could not understand them. I could neither read the signboard … nor the label on the bottles … How mortifying! These several years I have used my time and money to study Dutch, but to no purpose. Ah, I have lost everything … Then I remembered that I had often heard that English was then used widely abroad. That must be English. My courage had once failed me, but I took heart again to make a second attempt. With a firm determination to study English, I now turned to (p 63) concentrate upon mastering it … Practical purpose, maybe even expediency, and certainly a wish to be able to cope. I think love of study and interest came after that. In plain terms there days, Yukichi may have said, ‘Screw Dutch! Let’s do English!’. Loveday (1996 p 64) mentions a couple of other such sophisticated this than scenario suggests, Fukuzawa Yukichi’s quick dropping of Dutch as soon as contact taking he had with and up English like a new fashion reflects the image of Japanese culture doing the same thing in the mid and late 19th century. “renegades”: Prince Ito (Hirofumi, or Hirobumi) who went on the first official Japanese trip abroad on the Kanrin Maru venture to San Francisco in 1860 and then actually escaped from Japan going to London for a year or so in 1863 and who became Prime Minister of Japan about four times later in the 19th century; Iwasaki Yataro (the third person from Kochi Prefecture!, which is almost as remote as Nagasaki is in Japan geographically) who founded Mitsubishi; and Nijima Jo who started Doshisha University, one of the two big private 86 English in Japan universities in Kyoto. But Fukuzawa Yukichi’s response comes from his contact with English – with contact he engaged with it, and he began to use English in Japan, ostensibly as teacher but also in education for getting access to knowledge available in an English-language medium. There were people like him, especially among the samurai class and also some others lower down socially. They had purpose. But most people in Japan did not have any purpose for English, anyway not yet. ix. Tsuda Umeko In 1900, a famous Women’s college (Tsuda College) was founded by Umeko Tsuda (she was born later so it is a bit more normal in history books to put her family name last). She had been to the US and to Britain to study along with Tsuda Umeko was hundreds of other young and old people from Japan. She is different sent on the 1872-73 because she went to the US when she was 6 in 1871, and did not Iwakura Mission by return until she was about 19. She had some jobs, including teacher her modernist father. Ito Hirofumi’s children, and later went to Britain and the US again, But she got off the raised money there, came back and started Tsuda College. boat in the US and did not go to Europe or She is interesting because she spent about 13 of her first 29 years inside Japan. So, 60% of her life was spent in places where she ahd to deal with things in English. Like John Manjiro, she was alone there and she still survived, maybe thrived. She also got the support and inspiration she needed to start an education institution for women in which English was a central tenet. around the world with the others. This might be one reason why she stayed with English and not any other language cultures. I think that I mention Tsuda Umeko (or ‘Umeko Tsuda’), because of the modern ideas and modernization associated with English in her time. Even though Tsuda took advantage of government education reforms in the mid 1890s (eg. all students were to study English in the last years of school, and each prefecture had to have a special school for young women) to have her school in Tokyo mandated, the college and all of Tsuda’s work very much were her own effort. I think that Tsuda is typical of people who succeeded in their lives using English – she did it on her own terms as an individual and not from any kind of top-down initiative – a bit like Fukuzawa Yukichi.. This still happens I think. x. Soseki Natsume This is one of the top three or four Japanese novelists of the 20th century (the others being Yukio Mishima, Haruki Murakami Yasunari Kawabata and maybe Ryunosuke Akutagawa). After quitting architecture study for English, becoming a teacher in Matsuyama and in Kumamoto, he also spent some time outside of Japan, in and near London. He learned about some English writers. Having been sent to Britain by the government, he was introduced to some British literati (ie. people in literature), read a lot, tried out some things like bicycles 87 English in Japan which he did not like, but did not make many friends or socialize very much. Still, he did develop what is called the ‘I-novel’ in Japanese literature based on some western literature genres. After 2 years in Britain Soseki returned to Japan in 1903 and a few years later became Professor of English Literature at the Imperial University (now Tokyo University). A couple of years later he died Natsume Soseki was on the Japanese 1000 yen note until 2004 and now it is early 02th century biologist Nideyo Noguchi. Fukuzawa Yukichi is still on the I mention him, for his contact with English. It influenced him. Like Sakamoto Ryoma, but in contrast to Ryoma, Soseki came full circle: he believed that thinking and writing and doing cultural things like learning English should be done for one’s own sake rather than for the nation’s greatness, modernization and prestige. Once again, a famous Japanese person well-known for their connection with English achieved what he did on an individual basis more than for any public or institutional agenda. Was it the English that did this? No, it was the things he had to deal with through English, both by having to make sense with things and people he had contact with (though Soseki seems to have responded intellectualy mainly in Japanese language medium.). 10,000 yen note though. These people who are well-known partly for embracing culture and knowledge from outside of Japan are used to present this image as popular and public. I will let you decide if the popular and public image of Japan really is about embracing things form the outside like these There is much literature about Japanese interest, mania, adoption people did,. and adaptation of Western culture and technology in the literature. However, in the middle of all of this writing, there is very little relating to language and language learning. ix. The Kanru Maru Expedition Already mentioned is the Kanrin-maru (Japan’s first propeller-driven ship, actually bought from the Dutch, captained by Katsu Kaishu though finally piloted by Nakahama (John) Manjiro) mission to San Francisco in 1860. And Fukuzawa Yukichi, who seemed to be a bit rich and had influential friends went too. I call it an ‘Expedition’ because it really does seem like one, a bunch of Japanese cultural and political authorities aboard a second-hand Dutch boat which nobody knew how to sail sailing across the Pacific Ocean to the closest part of the closest big western to a city which was hardly even part of that country at that time. But give those guys credit though, as the trip must have been quite scary. These people went to San Francisco where they had to wait until they had heard that a separate Japanese delegation to sign a trade treaty had arrived aboard an American ship. In San Francisco they met some important people, but mainly just hung out observing and buying what they could to take back. A couple of people who had had contact with Americans already were among these Japanese visitors, and English was the only foreign language they needed at this time. 88 English in Japan x. The Iwakura Mission However, a later trip by technocrats (so-called technology planning experts), politicians and other important people to Europe in 1872-73 in what is called the ‘Iwakura Mission’ (Beasley 1981) contained some interesting situations. One member of the mission, Ito Hirobumi who had been a student in London University in 1863-64, and who later would become Japanese prime minister on three different occasions, was described in the Times newspaper as “’speaking English with tolerable fluency’” (Beasley 1981 p 29). The mission was a full-on diplomatic affair, for the mission was traveling round the world: in the USA, Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Russia (all, as well as Spain and Portugal). In these countries, the principal imperialist powers in the world at the time, the Japanese representatives were given similar treatment. In the middle of Like Tsuda Umeko in 1872, all of this lots of different languages and interpreting would the 1860 Kanrin-Maru have taken place. Also, it would have needed to be accurate expedition only had contact and appropriate in order to not let different important people with English in the US. This be upset. For instance, (Beasley 1981) describes a meeting may seem significant until with Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of the newly formed you think about the Iwakura German Empire, who talked to them of ‘Realpolitik’, the need to be pragmatic in international politics. The Japanese were reportedly impressed. This suggests the communication had been successful (p 31). Elsewhere, Beasley describes how the Japanese while in Britain had to sit through long boring speeches without translation, and had received praise in the newspapers for their patience. Mission 12 years later. The Iwakura Mission went around the world, to about 10 countries – US, UK, France, Germany, Russia among them. In this sense, the idea that they needed It is in anecdotes like these where it is possible to read between the lines and see the situations in which communication with foreign languages probably was taking place. There were new experiences for most of the Japanese people involved, even on these official overseas trips. However, interestingly, language and the language-communication issues do not figure much at all in people’s observations and comments. just English is just silly. Let’s just say that knowing French was more prestigious than knowing English in the 1870s. It was only in connection with Britain and the US only that Contact with English was normal and Use of English was useful. Still, these trips were fairly successful, to the extent that lots of new knowledge could be brought back to Japan. Much would have been from observations by the Japanese, but much also would have been from talking to experts and from reading books written by experts in the experts’ own languages. Of course all this was contact with English (and other languages) and also a bit of use of English (and other languages) that let all these people have contact with the new ideas, information, technology, knowledge and ways of thinking that they craved. It seems that even in this vital period English still was not sought for its own sake, rather English (and other languages) 89 English in Japan was sought as a tool, as a means to an end. The next section considers the next period of contact when manic modernization agendas were followed for a short time, until more circumspect mentalities and confident attitudes took over among Japanese people. 3 b. viii From Individual to Mass Contact with English - Education and Survival Sometime between the years 500 and 700 CE, Chinese writing came to Japan. From that time until about 140 years ago, Japan did not experience any mass contact with any foreign language inside its shores. English and other European languages entered Japan really after the 1870s. In the end, English predominated I have mentioned Fukuzawa Yukichi earlier. Shimizu (2010 p 8) mentions the same anecdote which I did, about how initial contact with English made an impact: Fukuzawa Yukichi, one of the foremost scholars of Dutch, quickly shifted his attention to English when, on a visit to Yokohama immediately after the opening of the harbor to the world (1859), he was surprised to find that English was the principle language not Dutch. English … He immediately began to take up the study of English instead of Dutch. translation, thence In 1868 his school became Keio Gijuku, Keio University, which led to a education, thence golden age of the study of English in Japan survival I have this quote from Shimizu, because it is about just one individual. But Japan is a society with millions of individuals, and all of whose experiences having contact with English are different no matter how similar and coincidental they may have been. This makes the whole was more messy and less golden than lots of writers and researchers like Shimizu would imagine, but I hope the image of contact and response is clear. The only obsession which can clearly be discerned in modern Japanese were doubt But no important. there relatively is little history of English (neither contact nor use) for communication such as One result of the Iwakura mission of 1870-71 to North America and Europe was seeing different ways to do education. In education, from quite early on, English was being taught as modern schools and universities became founded and as teachers were able to learn enough English to be able to teach. The change took less than a generation (20 years – maybe faster than has happened in China in the late twentieth and early twenty first century) and came with a lot of other changes. Lehman (1981 p 20) sees these changes in this way: for in trade or business. So, if you have a chance look at, say, letters in English people between in English from that time if you want to see what Engoish contact and use was really like. history is the desire for the independent survival of the Japanese nation; to that sacred end, compromise may not only be preferable, but absolutely necessary This was English from the top of society, part of the kokutai policies (for a strong country and army) of the time. Later, after complete discrediting of kokutai policies and near annihilation of Japan in 1945, a new re-building policy took shape and the same ‘survival’ purpose took hold. 90 English in Japan However, back in the 1870s, change became habit and replacing cultural artifacts became fashion. Short hair for men came in, wearing two swords was banned, western-style dress became compulsory at official public functions, and people started drinking beer. In intellectual circles there were suggestions for making Christianity the national religion. Tokyo Imperial University had lectures in English in its first years, and Loveday (1996 p 6), place 1872 as the start of compulsory English study in public schools from age six. This coincides with the Gakusai reforms, basically a big government law about education educational reforms following the establishment of Mobushou (the Ministry of Education) in 1871 (Burnett & Wada 2007 pp 2-3). Yet, in practical terms, the effectiveness of these developments is debatable. For instance, Burnet and Wada (2007 p 3) cite UNESCO statistics provided by Japan that in 1873 on 28% of elementary school kids were in school in 1873, over 50% in 1883 and 96% in 1906. But there were almost no materials nor people trained to teach English, and probably other things like Japnese langague (kokugo), maths, science and other essential knowledge had priority in the field at grassroots level. Therefore outside of higher or richer social circles, or outside of cities in the country areas where most people lived, contact with English in education at this time was probably pretty negligible. It would have ben like seeing strange writing or hearing strange words like in a song, knowing that they were not Japanese and maybe just presuming that it was English (just like some people in Japan do today too). But there was tangible evidence - texts, people talking about and seeing other cultural things (artifacts) from outside – that other cultures, new discourses, were about. Though much discourse of this new milieu would not have permeated as language text (and certainly not so much as English language text), people would have been conscious of it, would have been having contact with it. A Japanese poster recording a western-style-cum-Japanese-ukiyo e print image of the Japanese attack on Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 in Figure 14 demonstrates this. The interesting feature is various Japanese around the border except below where the title “The love of Russian fleet of war vessels”. Why suddenly drop this English into the middle of a jingoistic Japanese war poster? This cultural conundrum is less significant here than the obvious fact that, by dropping English in people were having contact with it. Thus in this greater cultural contact process, perhaps in stops and starts, many people were beginning to have contact with English 91 English in Japan Figure 14: Japanese print with mix of western and ukiyo-e styles displaying the destruction of a Russian ship. Note the English title (with slightly skewed use of ‘of’ and missing ‘the’ before ‘Russian fleet’ – erroneous forms also often seen from English students in Japan today) among all the Japanese text. (Source: Cavendish 2004) 92 English in Japan Some people even wanted to be rid of the old culture altogether. Donald Richie (1994), tells for instance of a visit by Ulysses Grant in 1879, after he had been president of the United States. During his visit, he was shown a performance of Noh drama, after which he was told by some Japanese that it was inferior culture compared to western drama and that in the future they may prohibit it. However, Grant disagreed, saying that he was deeply moved by the performance and that it would be a tragedy if Noh drama could never again be performed. Richie attributes the continuity of Noh partly to Grant’s timely comment – an illustrious westerner’s opinions were greatly treasured. Still, I believe that Noh – like the Japanese language - would not have disappeared in any case。 Another instance is different people, such as the Society for the Romanisation of the Japanese Script (ロマ字会) wanted to get rid of kanji. There is still a school in Kyoto on Sanjo Dori Street, near the corner of Higashioji Road just near Higashiyama Station (in Figure 16), which keeps this idea alive. Other people talked about even get rid of Japanese language altogether (Lehman 1981 p 22, Loveday 1996 p 67, Stanlaw 2004 p 65). 3b ix Generational Change in Contact with English In another article, Richard Perren (1992) discusses how after about 20 to 30 years of modernization, Japan slowed down its drive for westernization and reviewing its own culture. There are perhaps three Figure 16: Kyoto Office of the Society for the Romanisation of the Japanese Script reasons for this. One is simply that Japan was (Photo: Own) beginning to have success – by 1905 Japan had fought two successful colonial wars, the latter one defeating the European power Russia, and had established an Asian empire similar in scale to some other European colonial powers. At least in government, this was enough to give confidence that Japan as a nation was one of the world’s ‘big boys’, though Japan often got pressure and some discrimination from western countries for most of the twentieth century. Another reason is that by the 1890s unequal trade treaties were either expiring or Japan had been able to meet the conditions set out in them. This meant that laws and institutions placing Japan below other countries disappeared. One of these, an extra-territoriality in law jurisdiction, by which foreigners did not have to follow Japanese laws disappeared. This meant that foreigners, with whom people would have to make contact using English or some other language, became more numerous and less special in the normal Japanese community. 93 English in Japan A third reason was mentioned before, the time it takes for a generation to be replaced. The older generation which had started the race to modernize in the 1860s and 1870s by importing technology, culture, training, experts and languages, had made way for new people for whom these new ways of doing things were a matter of course, had become normal life. For instance, by 1905, English had been a compulsory subject in school for over thirty years, with teaching materials and a new generation of local Japanese trained teachers for over a decade (though the quality and success of the teaching is a different question). Even so, quite a few people were leaving school and going into the adult world with a lot of contact with English language texts and also some limited experience using English. Also, educated Japanese had been going overseas and returning with new experiences and views on the world. Table 4 below also shows this change about this time. These points are also discussed in relation to use of English in the next lecture. There is a point to compare in the present: the JET Program which started in 1987, whereby native speakers of mostly English but also lots of other languages have been employed in Japanese schools from elementary schools up, for about 25 years now. This means that a whole generation of people – including almost all students at university in Japan now, have had experience with non-Japanese teachers teaching foreign languages. A generation takes about 20 years. to In 30 such time – from say 1871 to the end of the 19th century, new people were in power, technology, In fact I could safely say that everyone listening or reading these lectures has had contact with people and had to use English or another world trade and foreign language many times. One hundred years ago, most Japanese people may not have had contact with foreigners, but they had had contact with English. changed, and old politics had conditions imposed by western One of the ideas in Lehmann’s (1981) article quoted above is that after Japan’s two periods or desperate, survival-instinct modernization (ie. 1860s-1890s and 1945-1960s) there was a relaxation of and even reaction against taking on western ways. There are two aspects of this. One is that there may be a sense that enough had changed already, and that Japan and Japanese people had less need. The other is that some people saw Japan and Japanese people losing their Japanese identity. imperialist powers had ended. The same between, say, 1925 and 1950. English and the types of English all caught up in this and people’s 3b x Generational Change in Contact with English through purposes for it had English Education also changed. Two sections ago I questioned actual extent, amount and quality of English education in schools. School education not withstanding, people were having contact with English in education in other contexts. 94 English in Japan Shimizu (2010) identifies an interesting generational shift which coincides with changes in Japanese public policy and cultural attitudes discussed in the last section. But he does so at the same time as believing that the approaches to learning foreign languages in Japan did not really shift. To repeat these points, Shimizu believes that Japan had a tradition of learning foreign languages, in a “practical” way – for communication with traders, etc. and for interpreters, referred to as “regular”; and an academic way – for reading and getting outside knowledge from foreign language texts called “irregular” by Shimizu (2010 pp 6,9). If there is any truth to this idea, then the role of languages from outside of Japanese culture is not a new phenomenon with English in the 19th century When English study arose, it was taken in stride as earlier Dutch, Portuguese and Asian languages had been, for ostensibly similar purposes. However, the profile and priority of English and its study was significantly greater through different levels of the society. Shimizu identifies 3 generations of English study, detailed in Table 6: Generation English Master Generation (up to s very early 20th century) semi-English Master Generation (apparent Features mentioned by Shimizu (2010) Studying English from Learning English form Japanese Cutting of English study in school foreign native speakers teachers in Japanese but education, removing English from (‘experts’, missionaries); mastering reading and written public display ‘regular’ and ‘irregular’ English; shift to ‘irregular’ study English study tendency Few Japanese teachers of English in school curriculum, Despite revived interest in western English, influx of foreigners, advantages for western culture in Taisho age (to mid English study largely (English-speaking) people like 1920s), increasing nationalist uncontrolled and done extra-territorial legal jurisdictions politics and culture in Japan leading privately ending leaving to relative to anti-English policies in education exodus and usage (including removal of Comments Taisho/early Showa (1920s to 1940s) from 1905) amorphized English in katakana) Table 6: Generational Approaches over Time to Contact with English through Learning (Source: based on Shimizu 2010 pp 9-10) The significance of the generational shift apparent in Table 6 is that there were equally apparent changes in the types of English people were having contact with English. For instance, until around about 1905, though there may have been less English around, it was more likely to have been authentic unmediated English texts, disparate English. Once public English education started and English discourse started to enter mainstream, many more people were likely to have had contact with English. But the texts would have been mediated by public education curriculum and teaching materials makers, 95 English in Japan Japanese teachers and also government censors later on, somewhat amorphised English, and often decontextualised English without relevant meaning to a given real context. A further trend which would not have been as affected by the generational shift is the increasingly extensive translation of English (and other languages) into Japanese. Translation as a source of contact with English is limited really only to the translators. Translation as use of English is different, because it is the ultimate form of mediation of a foreign language text. Translation is discussed in the next lecture about Use of English in Japan. 3 b. xi Contact with (and Use of) English through the Japanese Writing System In the last section I mentioned that only 140 to 150 years ago did Japan begin to experience only the second mass contact with foreign languages in its history. The first was Chinese 1,400 years ago. Chinese writing became altered (amporphized!) and entered Japanese language and culture. Is the same thing happening with English (or other languages) after contact with Japanese people and their culture? I don’t think so. What However in the last chapterI was trying to suggest that at least some words or expressions and have entered Japanese. But it is not just that – some ideas and things in culture have also entered culture in Japan, and such things need to be articulated in Japanese – how much traditional Japanese is used for this, and how much is taken from other languages to talk about such things in Japanese culture? Loveday (1996) Japanese katakana script (discussed next after the ‘History’ chapters), and one thing she did was look at all the top ten most popular movies in Japan and see how much katakana was used in the titles. She was interested in movie titles because movies need to attract attention, be understood quickly and clearly and sometimes appear fashionable to the public in order to be marketed. In this sense, how movie titles are communicated shows something of how language is used in the culture – and in that way people of course will have contact with language used in the titles. call ‘Upgrade – adaptation – imagebuilding’ (see Figure 5), some of the forms movie To illustrate what I mean I want to show some research done by one of my own students (Shimada 2010). She was interested in the would in titles the are ostensibly ‘Japanese’ and as such presume people understand 1. the romaji, and 2. the English items. In a sense, communication needs are important more than strict language form ‘rules’. Therefore, either, this ‘English’ is also ‘Japanese’, Of course one way katakana, a phonetic script, is used is to write OR, suddenly the words from other languages (gairaigo, etc., including English). Here question does not are her results, in Table 7, which show clearly increasing use of mater any more. simpler phonetic katakana especially since the 1960s and especially in the since 1992. This suggests simplification of writing in the popular culture domain. Similarly, recognizably English words become more commonly used. But it 96 English in Japan does not mean that Japanese is being abandoned – far from it. But it does show a greater frequency of English found with Japanese often amophized. An interesting exception was in 1996, ‘Shall we ダンス’ ‘Shall we Dance’, which takes a complete English sentence in roman script but changes just the last word ‘dance’ into katakana script. Compare this with 2001’s ウォーターボーイズ wuo-ta-bo-izu ‘Water Boys’, or 2006’s フラガール (furaga-ru ) ‘Hula Girl’, which show more direct amorphization - it is obvious that these English words are presumed to be recognizable, which is presumably why they were chosen. It shows that the makers of these titles are less focused on choosing between English or Japanese than a popularly recognizable way to express movie title. In short, it suggests that using some English – and not just single words or expressions – is part of the language culture in Japan. In other words the language culture in Japan is perhaps is not restricted to nor defined by just the Japanese language any more. 97 1926 カラボタン (karabotan ) 1(1)English in1982 Japanニッポン国 ( nippon koku ) 1929 パイプ (paipu ) 1(1) 1931 マダム (madamu ) 1(1) 1942 ハ ワ イ ・ マ レ ー 沖 海 戦 (hawai mare- oki 1(0) 水のないプール ( mizunonai pu-ru 1983 meri-kurisumasu カ メ ル ン 故 郷 に 帰 る (kamerunn kokyouni 1(0) 1952 カメルン純情す (karumenn zyunzyōsu ) 1(0) 1955 女中ッ子 ( jotyuuk ko ) 1(0) 1956 カラコルム ( karakorumu ) 3(1) ( senzyōno ) 風の谷のナウシカ ( kazenotanino nausika 1985 2(0) 台風クラブ ( taihū kurabu 2(1) ) ビルマの竪琴 (biruma no tategoto ) コミック雑誌なんかいらない！(komikku zassi 5(3) nannka iranai ) 太陽とバラ ( taiyou to bara ) 1959 キクとイサク(kiku to isaku ) 1(0) ウホッホ探検隊 (uhohho tankentai ) 1960 黒い画集 2(1) 天空の城ラピュタ (tenkū no siro rapyuta ) あるサラリーマンの証言 ( kuroigasyuu arusarari-man no syōgen ) キネマの天地 (kinema no tenti ) 秘境ヒマラヤ ( hikyou himaraya ) ジャズ大名 (zyazu daimyō ) 1962 キューポラのある街 ( kyu-pora no arumati ) 1(0) 1987 マルサの女 (marusa no onna ) 1965 東京オリンピック ( Tokyo orinnpikku ) 2(1) 1988 となりのトトロ (tonarino totoro ) ブワナ・トシの歌 ( buwana・tosi no uta ) 1966 ) チ・ン・ピ・ラ (ti・n・pi・ra ) 1986 ビルマの竪琴 (biruma no tategoko ) 3(3) 十階のモスキート ( zyukkaino mosuki-to ) 1984 kaeru ) ) 家族ゲーム ( kazukuge-mu ) 戦場のメリー・クリスマス kaisenn ) 1951 2(1) 1(0) ロ ッ ク よ 、 静 か に 流 れ よ “エロ事師たち”より人類学入門 (“ ero zisitati ” 2(2) (rokku yo, 4(2) sizukaninagareyo ) yori zinruigakunyūmon ) リボルバー (riboruba- アンデスの花嫁 ( anndesu no hanayome ) 快盗ルビィ (kaitō rubi ) ) 1969 ベトナム ( betonamu ) 1(1) 1989 ウンタマルギー (untamarugi- 1970 エロス＋虐殺 ( erosu＋gyakusatu ) 1(1) 1990 バタアシ金魚 (bataasi kingyo ) 1(0) 1972 サマー・ソルジャー (sama-・soruzya- ) 1(1) 1992 シコふんじゃった (siko hunzyatta ) 3(0) 1974 サンダカン八番娼館 望郷 (sandakan 1(0) 青 春 デ ン デ ケ デ ケ デ ケ ( hatibansyōkan bōkyō ) 1977 1978 2(1) いつかギラギラする日 ( ituka giragira suruhi ) 1993 ) ボクサー (bokusa- ) 2(1) サード (sa-do ) ツィゴイネルワイゼン ( twigoineruwaisen 1995 ) ガメラ 大 怪 獣 空 中 決 戦 ( gamera daikaizyū 3(2) マークスの山 (ma-kusu no yama ) TOKYOFIST/ 東京フィスト ( Tokyo hwisuto ) 狂 い 咲 き サ ン ダ ― ロ ー ド ( kuruizaki 1996 sanda-ro-do ) 渚のシンドバット ( nagisa no sindobatto Shall we ダンス？( shall we dansu ? ) ガキ帝国 ( gaki teikoku ) 4(3) kūtyū kaisen ) ヒポクラテスたち ( hipokuratesu tati ) 1981 2(2) ソナチネ (sonatine ) ヌードの夜 (nu-do no yoru ) ダイナマイトどんどん ( dainamaito dondon ) 1980 seisyun dendekedekedeke ) 幸 福 の 黄 色 い ハ ン カ チ ( kōhukuno kiiroi hankati 1(0) ) 2(1) キッズ・リターン ( kizzu・reta-n ) 近頃な ぜかチャールス トン ( tikagoronazeka （ハル）(haru ) tya-rusuton トキワ荘の青春 (tokiwa no seisyun ) ) シャブ極道 (syabu gokudō ) 98 ) 4(2) English in Japan 1997 3(3) ラヂオの時間 (radio no zikan ) バウンス ko GALS (baunsu ko GALS ) 瀬戸内ムーンライト・セレナーデ ( setonai mu-nraito・serena-de 1998 ) 2(1) カンゾー先生 (kanzo – sensei ) CURE キュア (kyua ) 1999 コキーユ / 貝殻 (koki-yu 2000 ナビィの恋 (nabyi 1(0) ) 3(2) no koi ) バトル・ロワイアル (batoru・rowaiaru スリ (suri 2001 ) ) 2(0) ハッシュ！(hassyu ! ) EUREKA(ユリイカ) (yuriika ) リリィ・シュシュのすべて (riryi・syusyu no subete ) ウォーターボーイズ (who-ta-bo-izu ) 2002 ピンポン (pinpon ) 2003 美しい夏 1(0) 4(2) キリシマ (utukusiinatu kirisima ) ヴァイブレータ (vaibure-ta ) ジョゼと虎と魚たち(zyoze to tora to sakanatati ) ドッペルゲンガー (dopperugenga- ) 2004 3(1) スウィングガールズ (suwingu ga-ruzu ) ニワトリはハダシだ (niwatori ha hadasi da ) チルソクの夏 (tirusoku no natu ) 2005 5(3) パッチギ！(pattigi ! ) メゾン・ド・ヒミコ (mezon・do・himiko ) リンダ・リンダ・リンダ(rinda・rinda・rinda ) カナリア (kanaria ) ゲルマニウムの夜 ( gerumaniumu no yoru ) 2006 2(1) フラガール ( huraga-ru ) カミュなんて知らない ( kamyu 2007 nante siranai ) 4(2) それでもボクはやってない ( soredemo boku ha yattenai ) 天然コケッコー ( tennen kokekko- ) サッドヴァケーション ( saddo vake-syon ) サイドカーに犬 ( saidoka- ni inu ) 2008 3(3) トウキョウソナタ (tokyo sonata ) クライマーズ・ハイ (kuraima-zu・hai ) アフタースクール ( ahuta-suku-ru ) 2009 4(3) ディア・ドクター (dia・dokuta - ) ヴィヨンの妻―桜桃とタンポポ― (viyon no tuma –outou to tanpopo -) ウルトラミラクルラブストーリー (urutora mirakuru rabusuto-riサマーウォーズ (sama-who-zu ) ) Table 7: List of Japanese Movies Titles including Katakana Script in the Kinema Junpo Magazine Top 10 Japanese Film Rankings from 1931 to 2009 and number registering English or International Word Items (in parentheses). (Source: based on Shimada 2010 Appendix 1) 99 English in Japan How does this all relate to the contact with English? The simple answer is probably sufficient: English was seen as necessary, essential even, but only to a point. Once Japanese people had enough to do what they needed to do, then the race for English began to stall. However, of course individuals and various institutions could and did continue to study, improve and overall increase the amount of and contact with English. But there is a flip side, and it relates to people’s identity as Japanese speakers – more simply Japanese identity. English probably never was going to become a lingua franca in Japan. Unlike in countries like Turkey and Vietnam, Japan never even went so far as to replace native kanji and kana scripts with Roman script. Of course this was nothing xenophobic like make Japanese text inscrutable to non-Japanese. No, rather these scripts remained workable despite cultural changes going on, and also, they remained part of the literary and educational culture of Japan and Japanese identity. Also, katakana has been workable (though not suitable) as a way to encode words form English and other languages. The same was true then as it is now. The next section about contact with English up to the present considers reasons for this. 3 b.xii Wider and Deeper Contact with English up to the Present. This section examines how contact with English has been happening up to and continues beyond the present. After The last section saw how English and other languages came to Japan from about one and a half centuries ago. Part of the reason was because the government saw that it needed western knowledge, technology, political and economic systems, laws, education systems and culture to modernize the country, become stronger and to survive. What happened was revitalization of some extreme aspects of Japanese culture, an aggressive expansion with military power outside of Japan, war and physical defeat for Japan in 1945. the earlier contact with English in the first period of modernisation, contact with English expanded with internationalizatio n – more Post-1945 has been different, but none the less, survival has been one world-scope for motive. Rather than military power, economic demand for modern English texts to technology, knowledge and so on, has been a driving factor. An interest come from and for in internationalism (国際化 kokusaika) has been another. But there people in Japan to have been other factors. One has been that 1945 brought the first and go out of Japan and so far only occupation of Japan by a foreign culture and power. The encounter them – United States and its allies ran Japan for seven years and continued to and more recently have a strong influence for many years after. Japan was also the internet. economically dependent on the USA, though this dependence has lessened. Amid all these changes, the need to understand and to communicate primarily in English has been crucial. Not just the government and leading cultural institutions, but also 100 English in Japan normal people have seen English as useful if not necessary in their lives. Perhaps there have been four phases, maybe five i. World War 2 – early 1950s The first phase was in the years after the war to the early 1950s. General MacArthur and numerous American specialists ran and reformed Japan from General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Tokyo. They used English. Much translation had to be done, such as the new Japanese constitution, for simple administration purposes. Also, American English became a recognized standard at this time. All these changes were happening at the top, and were brought in largely from outside of Japan. However, especially in urban areas, around military bases, local people and English-speaking military personnel met, and it was the local Japanese who adapted, often for survival. One example in the last lecture was examined, pangurisshu, such as shown in James Michener’s novel Sayonara (1957) described before. Another source of English was the American military forces’ Far East Network, which still broadcasts on the local radio network today. Also, once again, students started learning English in school. ii. 1952 to 1970 A second phase continued on from, say 1952, when Japan finally got its government back in the Treaty of San Francisco which ended the occupation and put the terrible war behind. This period continued to about 1970, the year of EXPO 70 in Osaka, which was a big international showcase of technology, modernization and economic development. EXPO 70 was probably more significant than the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in this sense. If the Olympic Games was broadcast to the world, and Japan could show off things like the Shinkansen bullet train, it was doing it for the first time. The Olympics was maybe more about using English, which just the media and Olympics organizers did but not normal people. The English that people had contact with was just basic English in the media, with limited contact by most people who just watched TV in Japanese. 国際的こくさいてき Internationalism with the Olympics? Well, just knowing and talking about the world is quite different from talking to the world (so the image might be about English but the reality was a bit different). With EXPO 70, actually a lot of people had lots of messages in languages besides English pushed at them for a whole 6 months, from Osaka and in the media. As well, Japanese companies had to be marketing using English and people in those companies obviously alos had contact with some of that English. By EXPO 70, which went on for many months and attracted more attention and thousands more from overseas, the Japanese government and companies were more experienced and confident about being able to put on large-scale international shows like this. Japan was 101 English in Japan back with the big boys in the world, as it had been at the start of the 20th Century. iii. 1960s to late 1980s A third phase started before EXPO 70 in the 1960s until the late 1980s, when Japanese rapid economic expansion saw it become the second strongest economic power in the world by the 1980s and much of its wealth came from international trade in manufactured goods. To do this meant negotiating and organizing things, frequently in English. Also, it was a time for incredible growth in English conversation colleges. Partly this was because the Education system was perceived as not providing training in the type of English communication people thought they needed, which was to talk comprehensibly, well and with confidence. Schools like GEOS and Aeon grew up in this time. However, also in this period, English became the foreign language of choice for over 95% of high school students, usually because their schools offered no other languages. The university entrance exams insisting on English certainly meant that almost all young people had contact with English, even if they did not use it for any communicative purpose. One other little known factor is also significant: during this time Japan became the country with the most international sister-city links of any country in the world though these days China seems to be very strong (Sister City International). This is significant, because sister-city links operate normally at local government level with various visits, cultural exchanges and so on occurring and needing to be organized, frequently in English. A final factor is that workers from overseas (legal and illegal) were beginning to come to Japan in increasing numbers. Though many of these eventually came to use Japanese, early on English was more common. iv. Early 1980s onwards, with Spoken English The current phase (from about the mid or early 80s) is characterized increased contact with English in the sense that people may have contact with other people and speak it. Regarding spoken English there have been also by three main developments. Most significant is cheaper air travel and greater affluence with more cash to spend have enabled greater numbers of Japanese people to travel overseas, a great deal of them traveling independently and using English (and other languages) when they go. Secondly, from 1986 an initiative by the government for more communicative language teaching in schools has seen up to 10,000 young people coming into Japan each year, organized by MEXT to assist teaching foreign languages, predominately English (though these days other languages are also important but now fewer than 5,000 people come with the JET scheme. This is the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) program (actually starting 1987). These people are sent and are often seen from highly urban to remote rural communities all over Japan. As a result, virtually all school students would have encountered 102 English in Japan these people. Third is the development and growth of working holiday and overseas study by Japanese people. v. Early 21st Century Onwards: Contact with and Use of English in Written Text and Media Though English had been appearing in advertising, film, books, comics, popular music, radio and television and other popular culture media since the end of the 19th century, the internet and other electronic media such as electronic games have been a different sort of media because the community of English in Japan is not just in Japan any more. Effects of this are more noticeable in use of English and is explained later in Section 3c. This has three main effects on contact with English (so I mention them now) but equally relevant to with Use of English mentioned later:  New language communities form and may exist either long-term or short term. Though English may be a contact language to start, because it is appropriate or because that is what people online think is the main or common language, people and institutions may, can and do begin to make their own registers as their new language cultures become ongoing and develop. Also, there can be a mix of both spoken and written styles. Online video games (in which virtual worlds are created, and people do not even know where different users are) are a good example   Second, having (increasing) contact with and use of English in online media can be at the sake of contact with English in other media. E-books and online language learning programs like Rozetta Stone are like this. A third effect is that people begin to develop language and literacy skills, for say online English text. But among various people, especially in some types of jobs and also among younger people, spoken English and other interpersonal channels (eg. posted mail) decrease. This means that they may not be as good at things like talking and even handwriting in English, but much better at English in written channels such as in online channels. This is a point made by Nicholas Ostler (2010) as a world wide phenomenon, and mentioned by David Gradoll at a conference on English as a lingua franca in the world, two sound predictions for the future. In modern (2010s) economically stagnant, social malaise, politically adrift, yet internationally and culturally buoyant Japan, English is something people have contact with (and use) in ways and in media people would not have conceptualized in the past and find hard to conceptualize even now. 103 English in Japan To complete this section on contact with English in Japan there is one more conclusive point: the current phase of contact with English has seen a whole generation grow up in the interesting circumstance of not being able to escape contact with English at any level. This phase is different from any other phase in the history of English in Japan for this reason. These days English in Japan is difficult to escape. But I have talked about contact with English till now. The English which is actually used tells a different story. Summary of Lecture 3 – Section 3b English was not the first European language which Japanese people had contact with, and it did not begin to become important until after 1808 when a British ship arrived in Nagasaki, which shocked people in government. Instead Dutch was the main medium for information in the school of ‘Dutch learning’. In 1811 the Japanese government set up a translation office as part of an ongoing tradition of obtaining information and knowledge form outside Japan. However only isolated individuals are significant with English at this time: Nakanama (John) Manjiro, Ranald MacDonald, and James Curtis Hepburn are discussed. After American Admiral Mathew Perry arrived in 1853 wanting Japan to open to trade, Japan saw survival as a reason to modernize, and English was the key language for doing this, Japanese people went abroad. Overseas experts came to Japan and after 1890 lots of people started learning English at school. All these enabled most people in Japan to have some contact with some English in text. In the 20th Century, especially after 1945 with American and allied occupation, increasing education and use of and exposure to mass media, including the internet, all Japanese have had contact with English Task 6: Timeline of CONTACT with English in Japan Please make a list of significant points, patterns, periods or events in the history of CONTACT WITH ENGLISH by people in Japan. Also write a couple of comments about each point (Advice: first find some events. Don’t worry about exact dates – just the year or the approximate part of the century is enough. You can use events to find different periods of history) (More advice: if you want to mention different periods in history, looking at Task 6 can help you) (Advice: a point on a timeline can be either a particular period, or a particular event) (More advice: remember to put in some year dates to mark the periods clearly. These can be approximate - eg ‘about 1750’ – or exact) (Hint: of course you can look at the lectures to find different points or different dates of events, etc. for your list) 104 English in Japan Dates Events/ Periods Comments on USE of English (eg what happened + why significant) - - Example -1970 A big international economic and cultural display. Many people from other countries came to Japan for many months to see it. EXPO 70 in Osaka Also, many Japanese companies and government offices had to deal with people outside of Japan. For both reasons, English was very important and common, so m an y p eop l e n eed ed t o h av e ex t en siv e con t act w it h En g l ish - 105 English in Japan Task 7: Mapping the Extent of CONTACT with English in Japan Please draw a line showing HOW MANY PEOPLE in Japan have HAVE HAD CONTACT WITH ENGLISH, (ie what proportions). Do it on the chart below. (Advice: the best way to do this is like a sine curve, which sort of goes up and down like this: ~~. ) (More advice: the numbers down the bottom of the chart are year dates) (Even more advice: remember that sometimes in history, nobody in Japan had any contact with English, so sometimes your line may go below zero (Hint: look in the lectures for any dates or periods, and also use your own knowledge of history. If you want to find other information in the library or on the internet - that is a good idea too.) Start on the left side with the line below zero - Total, 100% lingua franca ---- Zero 0% Suppressed (ie 英語だ め！) Yrs: 1500 1600 1700 1800 1850 1900 1930 106 1945 1964 1968 1986 2000 ->Now -> English in Japan 3. History of English in Japan 3 – Use of English 3c. Use of English in Japan. The last lecture examined some different periods of Japanese people’s contact with English. Of course people may have had contact with it, but simply having contact does not require skill or knowledge so much as actually knowing enough English to use in a given context for a given purpose. Here, to ‘use’ English includes  using English to take in meaning encoded in English, which implies understanding of the language. Such as to read English. Also,  to use English of course means to make meaningful texts of English to communicate that meaning to others. Plus one other,  when English items – words or expressions – become used mixed with Japanese or as Japanese – amorphized English 3c. i. The First English Used in Japan. I am not going to stick my neck out and say that William Adams, the English sailor who was adviser to Tokugawa Shoguns between 1600 and 1620, was the first English user in Japan. However, from 1613 in Hirado in northern Nagasaki, English people had a factory until it closed after unsuccessful business in 1623, as described in Section 3b. English people together of course would have spoken and Though people had written a disparate English among themselves. It was mentioned contact with some before that Portuguese was more likely to have been used in English by a couple interactions between Japanese and non-Japanese. Later Dutch of Englishmen in the became more significant by the 18th Century. early 1600s, it is not significant. Only afer Until 1808, when that British ship HMS Phaeton sailed into Nagasaki 1811 at the earliest Harbor disguised as a Dutch ship, and British officers would have have people really been wanting to make their presence known, once again it would been using English have been disparate English. But possibly Dutch or French or in Japan, once the Portuguese or English (or a mix) were used then when dealing with translation schools the resident Dutch in Nagasaki, who may have at points represented started. the British while they were there (though most of the Dutch were locked up and ransomed by the British who also raided their storehouse for food and drink). But there would have been negligible or no English used by Japanese at this time. It is unclear how many English-language books had made it into Japan before 1808, but certainly from 1811, the Tokugawa government had set up a translation office in Edo and also a foreign language-training center in Nagasaki (oranda tsuuji) from about 1808. Stanlaw (2004) remarks that the oranda tsuuju “produced a remarkable output of materials 107 English in Japan in a short period of time” (p 50) mentioning English grammars written by 1811 (described in the previous lecture) and a dictionary by 1814. As well as French, Russian and the Dutch already, knowledge of English was being recorded. Steadily texts were also translated and supposedly read in Japanese by people who needed to study them. Ike (1995 p 3) mentions the government forbidding translators becoming literate in English and Russian!! How and why the government wanted its people to know just one foreign language is not really clear, except that the government was paranoid about foreign invasion. It seems an interesting research topic anyway). This was very little done by very few people compared to what would be done later. However, when a new phase started, in the 1850s, there was a core of people in Japan who could use written English (read it, and if you include Nakahama (John) Manjiro and some others, also speak it). 3c. ii. New Uses for English in a New Age – translation and learning English with a purpose. In 1860 the Kanrin maru expedition to San Francisco, the 1872-73 Iwakura Mission around the world, (described in Section 3b) and other Japanese study and fact-finding trips abroad brought new uses for English (and other languages). Suddenly Japanese people (intellectuals, and others) could not sit around looking at Japanese texts in their own time on their own terms. Much of the new People used English knowledge, concepts, information and literature needed for in Japan to get developing the country – and to satisfy people’s interest and curiosity information and in things from outside of Japan – as well as business and political knowledge encoded in agreements were in other languages. To use these English texts people had to have contact with these texts of course, but the next stage was to make sense of them. To do this they would need to learn the new languages. Or they could translate. English texts to translate and make it all more available in Japan Text. as In Japanese this way, How is translation a way to use English? Well, in two ways, one is reading snd also to take the English text use it to get meaning and then convey that translating are use (of meaning in another language – Japanese. Or take something in English). Japanese and use English to communicate it to people use that language. In some ways translation is a bit of contact with and a bit if use of the language together. Anyway, if there is a communicative purpose and English is used at some point, then obviously it is use of English! 3c.iii Japanese Going Abroad to Learn, People from Abroad to Teach and English Traditionally people who were interested would study hard to be able to translate Dutch (or English) themselves. But here was no time left to translate – from the time of the Phaeton 108 English in Japan Incident in 1808, there was some urgency in the government. Later on, increasingly from about 1860 Japanese people would have to respond to and also initiate communication in English, with no time to translate. This was that time of what Shimizu (2010) labels ‘Regular’ learning of English, basically for direct interaction with foreigners, as discussed in the last lecture Also mentioned above was a good example Regular Learning of English, Ito Hirobumi, a latter-day prime minister, and member of the Iwakura Mission, who earlier had been to London to study for 2 years 1863-64. He was one of increasing Besides translation, numbers of students and scholars going abroad, and who were interaction among going to need English (and other languages) to get and to learn Japanese people and what they wanted and to talk to and correspond with whom they specialists and experts wanted. Further, as Perren (1992) describes, “The Meiji from other countires government imported around 300 experts or yatoi – a Japanese term meaning 'live machines' – into the country to help upgrade its industry, infrastructure and institutions”. This included: … Frenchmen were employed in teaching strategy and tactics to produced significant use of English – and other languqges in Japan. the army and in revising the criminal code. The building of railways, installing telegraphs and lighthouses, and training the new navy was done by Englishmen. Americans were employed in forming a postal service, agricultural development, and in planning colonisation and an educational system. In an attempt to introduce Occidental [western] ideas of art, Italian painters and sculptors were brought to Japan. German experts were asked to develop a system of local government, train Japanese doctors and, after the Franco-Prussian War, to educate army officers. (p 26-27) Though these yatoi may individually have picked up some Japanese, they would have been communicating, speaking and writing in their own languages. Lehmann (1981) mentions lots of new western technological and philosophical treatises and other literature appearing in Japanese translation and selling very well from the late 1860s (p 23). Therefore, one of the earliest mass uses of English – perhaps ‘processes’ is a better word here - was translation. More translation was happening than the numbers of people interacting with others using English. As mentioned in the last lecture, one of the valuable things which John Manjiro did was translate quite a few technical texts, such as the 20-volume manual about navigation. He also brought with him from the United States a Merriman-Webster dictionary. Also, early on English was not widespread in the Japanese education system – that would happen in the next phase of English use. 3c. iv Use of English Beyond Translation. Perhaps by and after 1900, English actually being used rather than simply translated 109 English in Japan becomes noticeable. There are three ways in which this is noticeable. i. Newspapers First is in the media. Newspapers come first. Foreigners had had their own communities’ newspapers – still a kind of disparate English - from about 1862 in Nagasaki and soon after in Yokohama. The well-known Japan Times started in 1897. There were smaller scale magazines and other periodicals. However readership was limited to foreigners and probably only local people who had an explicit need to get information from these newspapers (one example would have been shipping and other economic news in Japanese port cities). At the same time, Japanese language newspapers spread and expanded quickly– from the Yomiuri Shinbun in 1874. But use of English in the mass media did exist but only in print. English in electronic media did not come till another age, after 1945 starting with radio. ii. English in Schools Another way English became used was teaching it in education. It was from the 1890s that English starts to be taught in schools, more than other languages. This is the period which Shimizu (2010 p 9) quoted earlier and in the last lecture, called the “Semi-English Master Generation”. In those days, most people who made it to high school (a minority) usually stopped after junior high school. If a teacher was available students would have been taught English relying heavily on one of those ‘grammars’ - textbooks with grammar and vocabulary, with examples to be learned - drilled in it for rote learning rather than permitted to practice. It is questionable how much of the meaning would have come across to students, and certainly communication was not one of the purposes of this use of English. Still, after high school, some students had learned something and could use English communicatively on their own; or more significantly, they were encouraged to find or to go and learn or simply to use what they had learned in another place later in their lives. iii. A Culture of English Developing A third way links to this use of English in education in schools (and in universities). This links to one of the purposes of translation mentioned above: technological, economic and cultural activities and development. Increasingly English was being taught at universities, and at other private institutions. Also, by 1900 a generation of increasing In contrast to past numbers of students had already gone overseas to study and learn and come back to Japan. This is important, because already a culture of using English (a kind of ‘culture of English’) was developing. This means that this new period was different from the shock of foreign intrusion which had traumatized a generation of Japanese intellectuals, politicians and others a generation before – English and 110 periods, since 1950 there has been no shock and panic in little Japan about English – like people are accustomed to contact with English and sometimes English in Japan other languages then, and pressure and purpose to use them was new and still shocking at that earlier time. By 1900, for educated, professional and other significant people, the purposes and need to learn and use English was ever-present and unrelenting, but it was also part of their normal lives by then. This does NOT mean that everyone in Japan started to prefer to use English. Of course translation of English (and other languages) continued and expanded, and remained (and remains today) the main way for people in Japan to get knowledge and information from other countries and cultures. 3c. v The Kinds of English being Used: on the Continuum model But returning to English, what kind of English in Japan was being used? In this period English was being used in or with Japanese around the middle zone according to the continuum presented before. Furthermore, English words (and from other languages) were entering Japanese more and more – in effect influencing and altering the Japanese language in the long term, especially words and expressions and also the writing system. This was examined a bit in Section 3b as a result of contact with English. English items used in or with Japanese, but more English than Japanese syntax – ‘Japlish’ Disparate English English texts coming into Japan, read and translated English from yatoi and other foreigners. And some English English words mixed with Japanese, but more Japanese than English syntax Frequent or common English words or expressions amorphized as Japanese Japanese items which are actually from English English words, expressions, re-written as katakana, used in context with Japanese; influence of English being taught by Japanese teachers Origins of a Japanese variety of English texts from people in Japan Figure 15: Use of English in Japan up to mid-20th Century on the English in Japan Continuum 111 English in Japan This is the amorphization process discussed in the last couple of lectures. This last point about the writing system is discussed in the next section and is the focus of the next lecture which – yes – is on English and the writing system in Japan. 3c. vi A comment on Use of English Affecting Japanese Used In the first chapter, how words from other languages come to be used with Japanese (wasei eigo) was examined: i. simply to take the non-Japanese word with its original context and meaning and use it in with Japanese words (gaijin do this all the time in Japan now). Or ii. for people consciously to take words and expressions, change the pronunciation and form into, say, katakana, but maybe use only part of the meaning or add extra meaning (コンビーに konbi-ni , ‘convenience store’ is a very good example). Or iii. to choose consciously or unconsciously a word which does not have Japanese philology (ie origin) and use it in a particular context. This point is examined in two later lectures. How and when did this begin, and when did it begin with English? Well, in Japanese it is not new – it happened with Chinese words from very early on. It happened with Portuguese and Spanish (eg たばこ tabako, ‘tobacco’) and Dutch (eg ビール bi-ru, ‘bier’), with Ainu language (らっこ rakko, ‘sea-otter’) French (バカンス bakansu, ‘vacance’) and English. With English it began when lots of really new words came to Japan. As mentioned earlier, translation was the main way people were using English from the 1860s, and certainly from 1811. Some things are just not easily translatable. This is why so many words are just taken from other languages (I say ‘taken’, but I do not say ‘borrowed’ or ‘stolen’ because that suggests original ownership – it is language, not precious cultural treasures!) The linguistic term for such loanwords is neologism: the same thing has been happening in English cultures for centuries, and also in Japanese culture with Japanese language for centuries. Suddenly translators had to articulate new meanings. Do they start to make a whole lot of new kanji (like Chinese institutions do) when that process needed central government approval? No, it was easier to use the Japanese language facility already used and readily available, katakana. Remember that suddenly lots of technical, scientific, cultural and philosophical texts were being introduced – for example Nakahama (John) Manjiro brought with him a 20-volume navigation manual back from America. In other fields the sudden amount of text to be translated was as staggering as the extent of economic progress and cultural change visible in Japan in the second half of the 19th Century. Then, among all the new words and expressions, some words and expressions would become more used than others. It is 112 English in Japan among these that the language forms would become altered the most. Below in Figure 16 is an example of how one expression (国際コミュニケーション kokusaikomyunike-shon, ‘international communication’) which is an example of how a mixture of Japanese and English changes in different contexts. Here is a wonderful example: 国際社会コミュニケーション kokusaishakaikomyunike-shon in Context 国際社会コミュニケーション kokusaishakaikomyunike-shon, ‘international communication’. It has become 国際コミ kokusaikomi, and I have even heard こっコミ kokkomi. How has this form developed? Of course the original is very long, so sooner or later clipping - cutting bits off. - is going to occur. Inside a university, where the expression is probably used most, the shortest (ie most ‘clipped’) and least recognizable form – 国コミ(こくコミ kokukomi) - is used and easily understood. However, outside of a university, it is less likely to be understood, because people talk about international communication less often outside of universities. However, outside a university 国際コミ kokusaikomi is understood and used. One reason is that the types of things people in a time, place or community talk about are often different from other times, places and communities. To say it in a simpler way, the community inside a university use the expression more than people outside the university. In the end, people inside the university cut up the words ‘international communication’ - as 国際 kokusai communication – containing the English word ‘communication’ – and mix the two words up so much (ie コクコミ kokukomi) that they really become indistinguishable (ie you cannot tell them apart). Figure 16: Explanation of a Mixed Japanese and English Expression (国際社会コミュニ ケーション kokusaishakaikomyunike-shon) in Context Also, to use katakana did not require government permission – it was more efficient to do this and keep the basic original form. Of course, first The neologistic quality of the katakana is written. language culture in Japan – called 外 Later English text would be translated, either into katakana, or into orthodox Japanese – rarely if ever would any non-Japanese writing remain. Then all the translated material would later be read by other people in Japan. Any unfamiliar words or expressions would be taken into the minds of such people, who later would then use them at different times. 来語 がいらいご gairaigo or mixing and making new forms – has expanded the scope of people using English in Japan. However, when people use such ‘English’ they could easily think that they are using Japanese. It was made easy also by no tneeding government permission to make new kanji for new words if Thus after a new language item was written it would they could be written in katakana. be read and then it would be spoken. It is in this natural linear order that many of the words and expressions came into Japan and into Japanese in the period before, say, the 1920s. Of course the same processes have been used since then – even now – but translation is a more complex and direct business nowadays. 113 English in Japan 3c. vii Spoken Language in Visual and Audio Media affecting Use of English in Japan i. Electronic Media In the 1920s, electronic media started and grew in Japan. It started with radio, but Japanese was the only language until 1935 (NHK World) when a one-hour English and Japanese program aimed at Hawaii and west coast North America were started by NHK Kaigai Hoso. By 1944, NHK was broadcasting in 24 predominantly Asian languages. From September 1945 after the Second World War, Americans and their allies arrived and so did their electronic media with English. For instance the Americans’ English-only FEN network. NHK World resumed English-language broadcasting in 1952, just before Japanese television started up (which happened in 1953). Radio was much cheaper, technologically simpler and therefore more viable for English-medium broadcasting. However, English-language broadcasting was always a minor activity among NHK’s other missions. Also, on TV though more on the radio, English-conversation lesson programs have been broadcast for decades. NHK now has English medium internet television accessible around the world. However, it is just one more provider together with all People think of the other internet television service providers plus all the satellite electronic media as and cable television providers as well. To be honest, I prefer to traditional 20th century watch Deutsche Welle TV from Germany because it has more audio visual media. stuff n it and is much more up to date. But why should I watch Though they continue, Deutsche Welle when I can watch BBC World or CNN. But why electronic includes should I watch TV in English at all, when it is easier for me now to digital media – and 21st just watch video on the internet in any language I like? century digital media have much stronger One other big and unnoticed area for people in Japan to use impact on English in English is in making and selling products, especially Japan than 20th manufactured products – automobiles, electronic and other century AV ever had – finished manufactured products. These had to be explained to for instance with online overseas buyers and users, such as in user manuals. This translation. practice began in the 1960s and continues now, though many companies and other people also have dedicated websites in English. Since the 1990s, the internet has been the other significant medium for English, mainly from non-public sources. Further, CD-ROMs and other software for personal computers, even video games like Nintendo DS and mobile phone programs have become available, and are used. Nintendo DS have appeared in high school English lessons. The internet also provides a medium for interactive communication: through email, interactive websites, 114 English in Japan chat rooms, video teleconferencing and also simple phone calls. Yet with increasing modern sophistication of the technology, rather than English being used, it is more just the option of using English being available. The circumstances of English now being an option rather than an essential communication medium has developed from three phenomena. This is most apparent in connection to online translation. ii. Translation Software and Programs One is many programs and websites provide optional languages; and also increasingly sophisticated translation programs instantaneously available. And it is getting even more intense. For instance when I was first doing these lectures (on 19 March 2009), on the ‘babelfish.yahoo.com’ translation website, 12 languages were available, and all translated to and from English. The next closest was French with 7, and they were only European languages. Otherwise Japanese only featured twice: Japanese to English and English to Japanese. Since then, Babelfish has been absorbed by Mircosoft. J now in early 2013 checking Google, Google translation has translation capability for 104 different languages. This means 104X104 -104= 10,712 different translation options. One affect of this is that the option not to use English is available. This does not mean that the need to know how to use English should be discounted. English will continue to feature. However regarding the quality of online translation, until the last couple of years (say till 2015 or 2016) it really sucked as to be often incoherent. Online translation is also called ‘digital translation’ or ‘machine One problem with use of translation’. It is getting better (especially as predictive online translation functions functions such as for context are becoming part of it, as this is that people lose autonomy kind of development is also used in artificial intelligence. And as users of English or even Microsoft claim that their Microsoft Translator program uses a as users of Japanese. Why? deep neural networks across the most-used languages, The computers can now including Japanese. The way this works is that, for example, if predict based on how much I type in ‘Yebisu’ using the old ‘ye’ spelling, I get language items are used. ‘いぇびす iebisu The same principle goes for But if I type in ‘Ebisu Beer’, I get えびすびーる ebisu bi-ru, language and spell checking and this text as an option: programs. ヱビスビール Yebisu Beer. The last one is what I want. The only strange thing is that I never typed ‘y’, but I got ‘y’! Why? Well, I am using a new version of Microsoft Word 10, which contains some of these translation functions. It does not have the very old katakana character for ye (ie. ヱ) because people almost never use it any more and young people do not even know it. However, lots of people in Japan drink Yebisu Beer, which is part of local Japanese culture, and so there are many language texts containing ‘ヱビスビール Yebisu Beer. Microsoft 115 English in Japan have access to lots of these texts and notice two things: 1. that the expression ヱビスビー ル Yebisu Beer is used, in Japanese and in English; and 2. that because it is used, there is a big chance that this is the text form that I want. In other words, the Microsoft Translator program is predicting based on modern textual use in language media. The only thing missing is me being able to choose ヱ~ instead of いぇ~ for ‘Ye~ by myself for my own reasons. Incidentally, Microsoft Translator claims to do 60 languages (as of February 2017). It has an advantage over Google Translate in that it deals with longer texts, and deals with them holistically. That is, that Microsoft Translator recognizes that the text has a start and it has an end, and it deals with the meaning in linear order and uses the logic in the meaning to predict what it actually means. Copying and pasting a text from the internet is what people imagine, but many written texts are not made from the start first to the finish last. HOWEVER, people speak in a linear order – people start speaking, continue speaking and then finish speaking – this is where in the future, Microsoft Translator will have its impact most strongly felt, probably in simple texts in simple language translactions. So do not decide to trust online translation 100% – it is not really so good yet. And always checking is a good idea. iii. Online Electronic Media Another modern use of English is online electronic media. For instance, email addresses use basic English grammar: eg. hdoyle@ hmail.com – the ‘@at’ mark comes before the domain name (ie. hmail.com) as in English, not afterwards as in Japanese. So much of the internet is in English. To illustrate, in a 2006 article, Kelly-Holmes (2006 p 512) reports that of 372 corporate websites she analysed, 147 used English as what she calls a “supercentral language” (ie a basic or main language on, say, a company’s computer system inside and outside their home country). Japanese was used by 9 corporate websites. These statistics are a rough guide only, and they are a bit old now – electronic information technology changes so fast there days. I read in the newspaper recently that, though Chinese, Spanish and Arabic are increasing, English still holds over 75% of internet text, though declining. But these data are significant in as far as the internet is a world phenomenon, not just local. iv. Non-Email Online Communication One other instance is non-email communication: chat, SMSs (ie. short message services), texting, social networks like Facebook and Twitter, etc. and interactive templates such as online application forms. Frequently these have a mix of languages, because either information (like postal addresses) sometimes requires more than one language; or the 116 English in Japan communication is private and communication is the priority. In the latter situation, people can choose whatever language they like, often the convenient one or the fashionable one – if that means English, so be it (though I myself often prefer to use Japanese in SMSs in Japan, because I require less text to say what I want to say). v. Academic and Intellectual Circles In academic and in intellectual circles after 1945, there was new scope, new purposes and new ways to use English. For a long time, all of these centered around the US, American culture, American people, American technology and American English. From new curricula and teaching materials with new American English models, to the apparent need to communicate with American companies and customers, to a new generation of overseas academics and intellectuals (not to mention lots of American military personnel and their families already in Japan), to mass media and advertising also focusing on American models and icons, English became seen as something everybody needed to master in the brave new peace-loving high-economic-growth technological age. vi. Names of Companies, corporate image Names of companies reflect this modeling on English, especially electronics companies. Product names as well: Nissan Sunny, Sony Walkman and Discman, Calpis, Mitsubishi's i-MiEV. (“Mitsubishi innovative electric vehicle. The initial "i" doesn't have any particular meaning, the company says.” (Yuasa 2009)). Some names are strange, but they have became internationally well-known. Interestingly there is no apparent widespread modeling on Korean – lately culturally very attractive, and just minimal modeling on French, German, Italian or Spanish. vii. School and Other Education. In education, say up to the mid 1980s when MEXT revised the foreign language curricula and started the JET Program in 1986 (when they started hiring young people overseas, who started working in 1987), there were English conversation schools and English conversation programs on radio and television already. But that was the tip of the iceberg. Almost all students were studying English in their textbooks and ‘Reading’ classes at school for at least 3 years though usually 6 years. How were they using English? By and large by reading the English and then translating into Japanese – reinforcing a key literacy and communication practice in the Japanese language culture. This is a significant point and it reflects a chief purpose of foreign language use from the Tokugawa age – a one-way flow of ideas into Japan, the Japanese information storehouse. Even since 1945, there has rarely been any public drive to have Japanese language translated into English (or other languages in Japan). So, if the grammar-translation (やく どく yakudoku) method nurtured this situation, English was still being used – to teach 117 English in Japan people how to translate into Japanese a point which Loveday (1996) makes also about English being taught at the start of the 20th century in Japan. Moreover, since the 1950s, pressure has been on students to enter universities. Entrance exam pressure built and built, and English has been one of these exams. Here is the purpose for using English in this way in education. Here Loveday (1996 pp 75, 96) makes another interesting point – since the early Showa era in the 1930s, English actually has not ever been compulsory in school education Digital media are having and will increase having impacts on English in It should be noted that English is not a compulsory subject in any state Japan, [ie public] school in Japan, although it is taught in 99 per cent of them – spoken and written electively. This situation is fundamentally a response to the fact that language. English is a required subject in university and senior high-school Japanese entrance-examinations. … Student motivation … has little to do with government language world-bloc affiliation or the status of English as a world lingua franca. It education is primarily concerned with the instrumental access English provides to planners plan and act the country’s top universities, which guarantee professional and around economic success: English competence is frequently the decisive factor English-Japanese in institutional entrance-tests; it functions as a means of student translation, just the selection and, ultimately, of social classification in the Japanese same meritiocracy. following (p 96) Loveday is speaking about the late 20th century, not now, when a big change in the MEXT Foreign Language education curriculum is occurring with them being taught at Elementary schools, teachers using English in lessons and more emphasis on literacy and use in real contexts (MEXT nd). But there is one interesting point – in Japanese schools studying a foreign language is compulsory, but the government actually never says which language people must study. Yet, Loveday is right – English entrance exams remain an important purpose for people in Japan to use English. This is an institutional purpose, even though it is not specifically from the government. on both Still the policy one-way as time the Phaeton Incident in 1808. The people who succeeded what they using or got needed English in Japan were the ones who recognized that things had changed, like their purpose for English, the technology and the language culture After school, most people in Japan stop using English extensively in around them. their everyday lives. However in school education, English was Who do you want to mainly just a means to an end. Nowadays in schools emphasis has follow? shifted more towards agendas for communicative English use (since the 1980s, with introduction of Oral Communication syllabuses, the JET Program and so on). Yet the special place and purpose of passing university entrance exams remains a chief use of English in Japan. 118 English in Japan viii. International Travel One other field of English use has been international travel. Airfares now are more affordable than decades ago, and people have more reasons to travel. International travel for Japanese people is frequently cheaper than domestic travel. When travelling internationally, intensive contact with and use of English starts at the airport, and more and more Japanese people are experienced if not trained in how to use English at overseas airports, the hotels, restaurants, shopping, in simple if formulaic interactions with people. (eg ‘Passport please!’ ‘Do you have a blue one?’ ‘How much?’ ‘Thank you!’). Few Japanese (besides younger people on working holiday visas or students) have been able to stay long enough to develop strong and lasting interpersonal connections overseas (though frequently this type of relationship may develop inside Japan). Nowadays a smartphone can have an application (ie. app, or program function) which translates for the owner – English often having banal accents with mid-western US accent phonemes which are a bit different from sounds in various Englishes in other regions where Japanese people might go, such as Shanghai, the Maldeves or Paris. Therefore scope for using English (and other languages) becomes smaller than many people allow. This is changing now, but for many years, say from the 1970s, people from Japan would be using English outside of Japan mainly as individuals. In those days, Japanese people were the only non-western culture affluent enough for frequent international leisure travel. They were conspicuous, and even alienated. Still, within a smaller field than today’s travelers, Japanese people still also have needed to use English outside of Japan. 3c. viii Use of English Now and in the Future People in Japan have contact with English more now than at any time before. Also, more people use English and have to use it more now than before. In the future this should continue, though there are some foreseeable changing circumstances. One is the rise of other languages: Chinese, Korean being notable in the local region. But in the short term, – if one needs to choose another language to use or to learn, a language which one already knows a bit of, a language which one can write and read things fairly easily without learning a new script, and a language which one can be fairly confident that a person form another country also knows a bit of - English is convenient. But for bilateral relations say, between just two Japan and one other country, Korean and Chinese are increasingly popular, with most people now knowing a some expressions or words. For instance, I had to stop in Incheon Airport last May, and I went to a restaurant there. I could say Anagaseyo! Mepchu! Kamisahamnida!, Kambei! – my limit of Korean, but I could at least order a beer successfully. People in Japan may know as much as I do or 119 English in Japan more. In Japan there is the ongoing Korean boom, where even Japanese artists are going to Korea and doing their art in Korean (and Korean artists coming to Japan). Another factor has to do with people coming to Japan with better and more extensive knowledge of Japanese than before. This may lessen the need to maintain English as the chief or only medium of international communication in Japan. Certainly, a similar phenomenon is the significance of American cultural and language models – now British, Australian and other nationals’ cultures and variations of English are more prevalent, though of course the American ones do not diminish. However, also sometimes now, no English! For example in 2008 I saw a sign at the sand-bath center in Ubisuki in southern Kagoshima Prefecture advising people not to stay in the sand bath too long for health reasons: the sign was in Japanese, Putonghua Chinese, Cantonese Chinese and Korean hangul script. No English – first time in 23 years to see a multi-language sign like that in Japan. Then, in 2011 when I went through Fukuoka International Airport, I saw quite a few signs with Chinese, Korean but no English in them (though most of the signs did have some English). Yet another factor relates to technology. Electronic translation programs and devices, together with increasingly sophisticated automated translation devices are already available. Though English should not be threatened, people may develop the perception that knowing and using a lot of English is not so necessary any more. However I see people’s use of English not diminishing because none of the new technology can be contextually aware. This means that as yet only people can know who, how and when they use English and have a purpose to use it. Until technology can be contextually aware, ultimately it will be the people who use the language, and therefore choosing and making the English which is used. But even this condition begins to change with more and more capable digital technology. 120 English in Japan Summary of Lecture 3.Section 3c Even though most people in Japan would have had contact with English by the 1890s, except when learning English at school most people did not use English in Japan. From about 1811, the main use of English was in translation. This was normally just from English to Japanese, because one of the purposes to use English in this way was to translate: re-encode essential cultural, technological, economic and philosophical information and knowledge into Japanese. Otherwise, experts coming into assist with development and also Japanese people going overseas were the main people to be using English in Japan. This pattern continued after 1945, however a new use of English – to study and to pass exams developed. In this sense more or less everybody in Japan would have used English. In the mass media, first newspapers, then later radio and television used English but English-language broadcasting was not widespread. Later, computers and the internet gave more scope to use English, but also became a platform for options to use other languages and to use increasingly sophisticated translation programs. Summary of Lecture 3 as two aspects of the history of English in Japan These lectures distinguish between the history of contact with English in Japan and use of English in Japan, the point being that contact with English, no matter how widespread does not mean that people were actually using the language. Contact with English here means contact with English language texts. In this sense, actual contact with English occurred much earlier than people in Japan starting to use it. English became used only after the Japanese government realized that much of the knowledge it needed in order to modernize and survive was available in English (and other languages) as well as the need to communicate with people who had this knowledge. Translation was the first use of English and it became an ethos for English education in Japan for many, many years. Though English occurred in the mass media from the 19th Century on, most people in Japan did not start consciously to use English until the growth of the internet, and normally only in a limited way. However, use of other English and electronic translation programs may effect options for foreign language communication in English in the future. 121 English in Japan Task 8: Mapping the Extent of USE of English in Japan Please draw a line showing HOW MUCH ENGLISH has been USED by people in Japan. Do it in the space below. (Advice: the best way to do this is like a sine curve, which sort of goes up and down like this: ~~. ) (More advice: the numbers down the bottom of the chart are year dates) (Hint: look in the lectures for any dates or periods, and also use your own knowledge of history. If you want to find other information in the library or on the internet, that is a good idea too.) (Even more advice: remember that ‘100%’ means that people are using English 100% of the time and not using Japanese, so be careful) Start on the left side with the line below zero - Total, 100% lingua franca --- Zero 0% Suppressed (ie 英語だめ！) Yrs: 1500 1600 1700 1800 1850 1900 1930 122 1945 1964 1968 1986 2000 ->Now -> English in Japan Timeline of USE of English in Japan Task 9: Please make a timeline of the history of USE OF ENGLISH by people in Japan. Also write a couple of comments about each point on the timeline (Advice: first find some events. Don’t worry about exact dates – just the year or the approximate part of the century is enough. You can use events to find different periods of history) (More advice: use periods to make different parts of the timeline – looking at Task 8 can help you) (Advice: a point on a timeline can be either a particular period, or a particular event – just like you did in Task 5 actually) (More advice: remember to put in some year dates to mark the periods clearly. These can be approximate - eg ‘about 1750’ – or exact) (Hint: of course you can look at the lectures to find different points for this timeline) Dates Events/ Periods Comments on USE of English - - 123 (eg what happened, why significant) English in Japan 4. English in Japan and Japanese Writing Systems This could be a short chapter, but it is not. The topic is complex, because in Japan English is written in different ways at different times for different reasons. Japanese writing is very significant in relation to other languages, but the language form (ie. syntax, lexis and phonology; or grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation) usually get all the attention. For instance, I had to review two books about Japanese linguistics written mainly by older Japanese female professors in North Amreican universities and published in the US and in Britain (Tsujimura 2007, Mori & Ohta (eds) 2008), one over 350 pages, the other over 500 pages – neither contained one kanji or kana character!!! In one there were a couple of examples of katakana English in one article about teaching Japanese using humour in the US (Ohta 2008), but no katakana! I cannot understand why so many experts neglect writing in Japan when it requires so much attention. Why do I give Japanese writing attention in a book about English in Japan? Because so much English in Japan is written in Japanese. First, the Japanese writing system, as it is, needs to be explained: the possibility to have 4 different scripts in one sentence (kanji, hiragana, katakana, romaji, and more in atypical circumstances). Among the four, three of them are really different! This factor is significant enough, except these lectures are interested in English more than Japanese. Let’s just say that one of the scripts, katakana, has affected amorphization of English in Japan, especially pronunciation in spoken English more than any other factor. Actually with katakana, it is possible to see the amorphization process at work most easily, in how people shift English phonemes – or sounds - into Japanese form. Another issue is how to change katakana and hiragana (here when mentioning them collectively the term ‘kana’ is used) into romaji. The problem is that romaji can be used to express Japanese on one hand and English (and other languages) on the other. More simply, romaji does not equal English – and there is more than one romaji system used in Japan. These points are examined in this lecture. Considering Also, the relation between Japanese writing systems and the question of whether Japanese English is actually Japanese or English (also discussed in Lecture 2 Section 2h) will be reconsidered. systems Japanese is writing essential for understanding English in Japan. First is that much much English is written in Japanese writing. Second, there are 4different ways 4 a. i Japanese Writing Systems in which English Occurs The four writing systems mentioned above are  kanji, the Chinese ideographic character script, 124 to write in Japanese language culture, with one way, katakana, almost specially used for English (and other languages). Therefore all assumptions about normal writing in one script in a normal language need to be left behind. English in Japan which actually works differently from Chinese 4, hiragana and katakana (phonemic scripts which sprang from kanji characters) and romaji (a script mixing Greek, Roman and other European phonemic scripts, which    simply came from outside of Japan when Europeans came). i. Kanji Kanji is the original Japanese script from about 1500 years ago (contemporaneously just before Old English became recognizable as a variety of English), and became a base for making later kana scripts. It has nothing else in common with the other scripts. It has no base for English (though in Chinese, they do use the sounds of different Chinese characters to make Chinese characters for words from other languages – but that is a different subject). ii. Hirgana Hiragana is the first real Japanese script which was made from a few different kanji which had the same pronunciations of Japanese sounds and words. Also, some sounds and words from Chinese entered the Japanese language at the same time. It was developed a little while after kanji came to Japan. From the start it was a phonetic script. This means the writing tells how the language sounds. The image of hiragana is that it was easier than kanji, so women always used it, while men used kanji. One reason is that women a long time ago were not expected to learn kanji. However this is not really true – men used hiragana too, and many women did know and use kanji. Not really any English is written in hiragana, just exceptional items. 4 Japanese characters have multiple spoken forms and conceptual meanings – hence ideographs, Chinese tending to have single spoken forms and single meanings – logographs. Michael Halliday (1985 pp 24-26) who spent years in China investigating Chinese character use before formulating systemic functional grammar, explains the difference succinctly 125 English in Japan Figure 17: Excerpt from Ranald MacDonald’s rendering of Japanese words in romaji (in the left columns) into English (in the right columns), from his notebook. Unfortunately it is not clear but it does resemble what I saw at the Nagasaki presentation in 2009. (Source: http://friendsofmacdonald.com/?page_id=20) iii. Katakana Katakana was developed about the same time as hiragana, in the same way – based on 126 English in Japan parts of kanji which had similar pronunciations (it is said that Kukai – Kobo Daishi – invented both kana forms, but how much of this is true and how much is myth needs more investigation). The literature does not say exactly why katakana was developed – for instance, it is easy to ask why Japanese has two phonetic scripts! But the myth is that katakana was made to record foreign words. In the last lecture, I talked about research done by my student a couple of years ago, about movie titles (shown in Table 5). This is not true either (this issue is examined later in this chapter). Much English in Japan – especially English (and other languages) amorphized into Japanese – is written in katakana. But usually just individual words or short expressions iv. Romaji Romaji first was used in Japan in the 16th Century, and not by Japanese people. Originally it was Europeans using it – in Portuguese, Spanish, Latin and Dutch - though some Japanese people learned it so they could read European languages. In later centuries it was through romaji that different individuals came into contact with English in Japan, but usually it would have been Dutch. However in Japan, romaji was not used for Japanese until the 19th Century, in two main ways: to encode words in a written medium for English and other languages in Japan; and to write Japanese words for non-Japanese to read. For instance, Ranald MacDonald (described in Lecture 3), the north American who found his way to Nagasaki in 1848-49 after first arriving in Hokkaido, had to help Japanese student-interpreters of English with pronunciation – well, he made a small dictionary of Japanese in romaji. It is interesting, because he had only his own ear for listening and deciding how to write the sounds he heard. The Hepburn (標準 hyoujun) and Government (訓令 kunrei) romaji systems came about 30 or 40 years (1870s, 80s and 90s) after Ranald MacDonald in Nagasaki. Figure 14 shows an example from MacDonald’s notes or dictionary (I saw a different one at a presentation in Nagasaki (Burke-Gaffney 2009) - apparently it is available at the History Museum in Nagasaki). There is no set way to ‘spell’ Japanese words in romaji, though romaji is used in a ‘Japanese’ way, and also for pronunciation forms of other languages including English. An example is the name of the country: 日本, にほん, ニッポン, Nihon, Nippon, Japan, Japon, giaponne etc.. Which languages do you think all these are? But most disparite English (that is, English not mixed with Japanese) in Japan is written in romaji, all kinds of discourse and texts. What is the difference between romaji and Roman script? Well, romaji is a make-up word mixing ‘Roma’ – or ロマ- and 字 ji, (‘character or 127 English in Japan symbol’), and is actually a Japanese word. I use it in these lectures because it is convenient, and I cannot think of an easier way to say ‘the version of the Roman script alphabet used to write Japanese’. Roman script originally was the alphabet used for writing in ancient Rome. It was always upper case (just big letters. There was no lower case) and also there was no ‘Y’,’ W’ or ‘J’ and ‘U’ was often written as ‘V’. Roman script now includes lower case - ie small letters; some of these come from Greek alphabet and Northern European runic script - and it changes with each different language. So, please remember: romaji does not equal English! I should be using the term, ‘English alphabet’, but this is too narrow - only English! As I refer to other languages, especially languages which are written in a version of Roman script, in these lectures I shall continue to use the term ‘Roman script’ when referring to alphabets besides romaji v. Other Scripts Other scripts for Japanese are simply insignificant, and are used only by tiny communities. An exception is phonemic alphabet, which is used in dictionaries and in language textbooks (though it is used sometimes idiosyncratically in advertising). 4 a. ii English and Japanese in Romaji and Katakana One of the assumptions about English is that it is not expressed ideographically, for example with a meaningful picture or symbol. Actually this is not true either – I am thinking of mobile phone text-messaging. All the same, with English people expect to read something which tells them how something sounds. This is why Roman script was developed for different European languages, and other phonetic scripts for other languages too. It is also why, for example, English in Japan is customarily written using a phonetic script – with English in Japan, the sounds of words come first, only later do people understand what the words meant (though this was not the case earlier on in Nagasaki, when Japanese interpreters had to get to grips hearing English spoken to them in the 1810s by a Dutchman on Deshima using a Dutch translation of an English grammar book published in 1724). Also, writing English came after a couple of centuries of written Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch. There was a tradition of European languages and romaji going together – at least people in Japan interested in Europe would have been aware of this. So, when English was encountered, people could deal with it as just another European language which had strange but simple writing. The opposite was the case with, say, English people encountering Japanese for the first time in history – another Asian language which an unthinkably difficult and inscrutable writing system. Also, probably it took people a while to realize that there actually were three indigenous Japanese writing systems, not just one. Even now, their automatic response for many people from places with roman script 128 English in Japan languages is to write Japanese in romaji. In a similar way, it is an automatic response for many people from Japan to write other languages which they don’t know in katakana. When Japanese people started making dictionaries of European languages, they did it the same way they often do now – used the written form of the other language’s word (ie Roman script for English) and kanji/kana for the Japanese. Japanese people also naturally used to use katakana sometimes to show how things were pronounced – and they still do. However, the first Japanese language dictionaries made, say, by English people were completely Roman script/romaji. Many still are. The example of one which I saw, made by Ranald MacDonald in 1848-49 (on display at the museum in Nagasaki, presented by Burke-Gaffney 2009), which was all in romaji, and actually was not standard 標準語 hyoujungo Japanese, but rather local Nagasaki dialect. Katakana English can be In other words, Japanese words were, and are, written as if written in romaji and of they were English words. This is because the English people course in katakana. It is have wanted to know how the Japanese words sound too – in odd because the romaji effect they are trying to change the English words into some just follows the sounds kind of English form. This is why James Curtis Hepburn’s system of English pronunciation-based romaji based on how he heard Japanese (in Yokohama) is important. This system has been adopted a lot in Japan (just look out the window of any train at any train station in Japan and you can see examples in the station name signs). This is a very important point, because it explains the way of thinking of Japanese people writing, say, English words in katakana – they want to write down how a word sounds. This is why in the past - and now – much English in Japan is written in katakana. that would be encoded in katakana. That is not the main problem though. The main problem is katakana English written is using or the Hephurn English-based system when using the alternative local Japanese local kunrei ‘government’) hi h i it diff (or system t Another point: English written in katakana looks really strange to non-Japanese, and it sounds strange too. This is because non-Japanese people are not accustomed either to reading, writing or hearing English sounding like that. Similarly, Japanese written in romaji, especially sentences, looks strange to Japanese people. Mainly this is because they are not accustomed to reading or writing their own first language like that. How to write Japanese in romaji is examined later in this lecture. Summary of Section 4a With katakana it is possible to see the amorphization process at work. That katakana was made to write non-Japanese words is just a myth. English in Japan, including Japlish is written in romaji and in katakana. One reason why katakana became prevalent is that translators did not need government approval to use katakana. 129 English in Japan 4 b. Katakana In this section, I want to look at katakana, and its connection with English in Japan. There are two things I need to do. One is to give you two warnings, and the other is to look at the history of katakana to give some idea about how it has changed to deal with new words in Japanese (not always being taken from English). There is not a lot in the literature, except in Stanlaw’s (2004) two chapters on writing systems (almost completely about katakana) and about English and Japanese in signs. 4 b. i Japanese, Katakana, English (and other languages) As mentioned before, many people think that katakana is used just for writing non-Japanese words, or Japanese words taken from other languages. This is only a little bit true. Actually, katakana is used for a lot of things. Figure 18 gives a list adapted from Stanlaw (2004). Stanlaw lists nine katakana usages including advertising. But I generalize with the last type of usage, to include advertising with other types of strange stylized texts leaving just eight usages. 1 Words taken from other languages 2 Onomatopoeic (ie expressing sounds) words and expressions 3 Names of plants and animals 4 Foreign names and places 5 Special men’s, women’s and other names 6 Rejoinder particles at end of sentences 7 Emphasizing things 8 Stylized texts, such as in advertising • ゼミ zemi (a seminar) • コースター ko-sta-(a coaster) • チンチラリン chinchirarin (sound of a small bell) • ドっカン dokkan (sound of a big crash) • カンガルー kangaru- (kangaroo) • ハス hasu (lotus) • ソール so-ru (Seoul) • ヤンさん yan san (Ian / Jan-san) • ユーミン yum-in (Yumin – singer Matsutoya Yumi) • ガクト gakuto (Gakt – male singer of J-pop) • いい ナー! ii na- (Really good, isn’t it!) • こまった ネ! Komatta ne! (It’s upsetting, don’t you think?!) • だいすきの 味は マチャ だ! daisuki no ha macha da! (The taste I really like is macha) • いい イデア! ii idea (Good idea!) Figure 18: Types and Usages of Katakana. Katakana items are in italics. (Based on Stanlaw 2004 pp306-07) One point apparent in some of these examples in the list just now is that some words in katakana do not seem Japanese. Probably they are not. Sometimes things like computers automatically choose a spelling, script or style of writing, based on frequency or history of use. At other times the writer deliberately chooses something different for some special purpose. This is especially the case where the katakana seems unusual or unnatural. 130 English in Japan It is here that English (and other languages) can also get deliberately chosen, for a specific purpose, or not. Stanlaw (2004 p 207) gives an example from an advertisement. Errant English is placed in it instead of appropriate Japanese, such as あなたの anata no: Kore-wa yuu no wagon? The “yuu” is of course English ‘you’ and it appears chosen because it is familiar, easy but foreign and maybe cosmopolitan. It is certainly not normal Japanese, and this point is what people in a Japanese advertising market would pick up. It would make them think about it. One of the examples above – ‘いい イデア! ii idea – is similar. A normal Japanese word, 考え kangae (‘thought’ or ‘idea’), is an appropriate substitute. However it is normal and even predictable. Using the English word instead gives a different impression, nuance and even intended meaning such as a person using this expression is not thinking a thought, but only is focusing on the outcome, the ‘idea’ itself. 4 b. ii How English Gets Mixed with Japanese With ‘いい イデア! ii idea, it is in this mixing, that the English word ‘idea’ loses some of its Englishness. As such it becomes one of the ways in which English becomes used in Japan. This point is considered in greater depth in the next chapter on the language colour and sense. However, first seeing how mixing Japanese and English works is helpful. In a more complex and complete Japanese text, English is used both in romaji and in katakana. There is a very popular manga and anime series about pirates called ‘One Piece’ – it is popular outside Japan too. Here is an ad for a ‘One Piece‘ event in Osaka in early 2013 (Example Text 7). This text shows pretty normal use of romaji with katakana and other Japanese scripts: large-font romaji saying the name of the popular manga/anime, then ワンピース wanpi-su ‘One Piece’ in smaller-font katakana. The only other katakana is ギャラリー gyarari‘gallery’ telling the type of place the event is to be held. The text is a little similar to the pamphlet-cover text in Example Text 4 (in Lecture 2) and the ‘Around 40’ Example Text 6 in which the messages are straight forward and supposed to be read by people l who see them - having contact with those texts – for the first time. 131 English in Japan Example Text 7: Ad text for a One Piece wanted poster event in Osaka in 2013. (Source: http://www.shonenjump.com/j/. Accessed 7 February 2013) But I wondered about texts that people would not be having contact with for the first time, rather like somebody is interested and already accustomed to the types of texts in the culture or at least know how to read them. So I went into the One Piece website looking for other texts but pretending that I was interested in One Piece or I knew about it (like a high school student!). One Piece is a hugely popular manga and anime series in the 2010s, with lots of events and websites too.. After a while I encountered Example Text 8 just below. It is news text, a list of dates when different publications, and other media releases occurred in the previous 12 months. 2012.12.14 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE 総集編 THE 20TH LOG」発売! 2012.12.04 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE 総集編 EXTRA LOG 1」発売! 2012.11.28 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE PIRATE RECIPES 海の一流料理人 サンジの満腹ごはん」発売! 2012.11.09 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE 総集編 THE 19TH LOG」発売! 2012.11.02 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE」 第 68 巻発売! 132 English in Japan 2012.10.12 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE 総集編 THE 18TH LOG」発売! 2012.09.14 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE 総集編 THE 17TH LOG」発売! 2012.08.03 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE」 第 67 巻発売! 「ONE PIECE WHITE！」発売 ! 2012.05.02 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE」 第 66 巻発売! 2012.02.03 ///////////////////////// 「ONE PIECE」 第 65 巻発売! Example Text 8. One Piece news. Note the complementing quality of the Japanese and English together in the same text. To make sense of this text a reader needs to make some sense of the English in romaji as well. But the sense of a young high school student in Japan would not be the same as the sense of an Australian associate professor! (Source: http://www.j-onepiece.com/. Accessed 7 February 2013) One Piece is essentially an artifact of Japanese pop culture – it has something of the normal language use in Japan, the normal language culture of Japan. The news text has no special graphic design to attract readers – it is just written information. The messages in the text are being communicated in the language of Japanese culture, which is supposed to be Japanese. However:  there are lots of romaji, yet used for mainly one purpose, the titles of publications and media releases, but there is no extra Japanese text telling the same or related information.  katakana is used in a fairly normal Japanese ways and not for foreign words, eg. in 海 の一流料理人 サンジの満腹ごはん uminoichiryuryourinin sanji manpukugohan ‘sea adventurer-chef Sanji’s feed-your-face rice dish’, ‘Sanji’ is a Japanese name which could be written in hiragana or even kanji too. The point here is that the text has words from English, in romaji, used in the middle of the Japanese cultural context inside the website, not on the outside webpage. If people are looking at this text, they would have had to access the website and search for this text to get information. To understand the information they would need to be able to make sense of the text. The point is that English is used with or as Japanese, and for the normal user of the One Piece manga-anime website, making sense of this text would be a normal communication practice, a normal literacy event (Barton 1994). The point is that there is Text obviously drawn from English, but in the normal reader’s context there is nothing special about it - and it is not even in katakana. But these English-looking words have lost 133 English in Japan so much of their ‘Englishness’ A more complex text showing features mentioned above, and more, is an advertisement for a James Bond movie in early 2009 from Toho Cinemas Magazine January 2009 pp 2-3. I have analysed this text just below in Figure 19. I think the text illustrates something of what I want you to understand. These include: • use of language as graphic – part of the visual design, more English in some spaces, more Japanese in other spaces • longer informative title in Japanese in bottom right corner; bottom left corner of photo a simpler alternative title, ‘James Bond’ in English/romaji • the predominantly English descriptions start on the normal, left side going across, while the predominantly Japanese descriptions start on the normal, right side, going down • English words (‘action’, ‘drama’, ‘hit’) are in katakana in the Japanese descriptions and the Japanese title on the right side • Also a normal Japanese word, ココ koko (‘here’) is written in katakana too. Context: Timely publication at same time as release of the film by a movie theater company. Purpose: advertising and explaining the film. Genres: advertisement and short descriptive article Layout: Large colour photo of action scene (James Bond running with gun on a Siena rooftop in center); Japanese language article with vertical-running text below; insets of scenes from film in small insets on let and right (left side titles in English in Roman script, on right in Japanese with English words in katakana); longer informative title in Japanese in bottom right corner; bottom left corner of photo a simpler alternative title, ‘James Bond’ in English/romaji, i. Images: First image is ‘active’ then recognition of iconic ‘James Bond’/ ‘007’ names. ii. Inset photo images on left side with titles (‘Fashion’ ‘Car Action’, ‘Gun Action’, ‘Love Romance’, ‘Personal’) telling more explicitly detailed images in the film using English perhaps to give an international cosmopolitan feel. Also, it is normal for English writing to start on the left and go to the right, so these ‘English’ images are spatially in an appropriate place iii. Inset photo images on right side, lower down in Japanese running vertically, perhaps to communicate more directly to the predominantly Japanese-speaking audience. Also, it is customary for Japanese writing to start from the right side going down, so these ‘Japanese’ images are spatially in an appropriate place right to left Languages: 134 English in Japan i. Most of the text is in Japanese. However common and familiar English, used in similar action-genre film advertisements is used. These are short expressions using English grammar. ii. Headings highlighted with larger Japanese script contain words taken from English similarly familiar from action-genre film advertisements (eg アクション akushon ‘action’, ドラマ dorama ‘drama’,). ココ koko ‘here’ is unusually written in katakana to emphasize the place iii. The main Japanese title in the bottom left corner, the expression ‘…最高ヒット saikou hitto (‘really big hit’) also includes the English word ‘hit’. However, in all these Japanese grammar is used. iv. The title in English ‘James Bond’ in larger script highlighted in white on the left side has in much smaller Japanese script clarifies the meaning in more succinct Japanese (007: ジェームズ ボンド zero zero seben je-muzu bondo ‘Double 0 seven James Bond’). The smaller size of the Japanese script - also this time running left to right – does not interfere with the more pronounced larger image of the English-language title. Figure 19: Analysis of Advertisement-Article Feature – ‘James Bond’ 135 English in Japan 136 English in Japan English or Japanese? Task 10: [Hint: look at the points just above] Please look at the ‘James Bond’ text and the analysis of it, and answer these questions: i. Is this text a Japanese text, an English text or both? ……………………………………... ii. Why do you think so? ……………………………………………………………………………………………. iii. Is there anything strange about the English in this text? ………………. iv. Why do you think so? ……………………………………………………………………………………………. v. Is there anything strange about the Japanese in this text? ………………. vi. Why do you think so? ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 137 English in Japan In case you haven’t noticed already, here the aspect of English (and other languages) entering and affecting Japanese language – and therefore culture – is important. It is very common, so common that often people do not even think about it. I hope this becomes clear in this examination of the last three written Whatever significance texts using English in Japan; this point was also made earlier in katakana use has, it Lecture number two. signifies something that is not originally But you hopefully you are thinking about it. Also, please think about or not quite Japanese how katakana acts as a way to highlight these choices – katakana is culture – and that one way to draw attention to unusual or unnatural words and includes languages expressions, and these include words and expressions taken from outside of Japan from English and other languages – non Japanese lexis used like English. with Japanese grammar. Sometimes also the original meaning (say, of the English) changes too. In Stanlaw’s example (earlier in this section) of yuu in , … yuu no wagon, the grammar is Japanese even though the word is English: in English ‘you’ would be wrong – it should be ‘your’ wagon’! Instead the advertisers still need to organize the language in a Japanese way which is why the Japanese possessive particle の no is used. Using an English word plus English grammar with Japanese might be too much for most people in Japan.. Katakana English and Katakana Japanese Task 11: [Hint: Look at Section 4bi.] Please look for some different types of examples of katakana words or expressions which do or could come from English. (Advice: please try to find these examples. Don’t just think of them yourself. Using authentic (ie real) text examples is more real and more convincing) (More advice: look at Figures 16-19 and Example Texts for examples – but remember to use words that are more from English than from Japanese) (Hint: all around there is lots of Japanese for you to look around in, magazines, signs, the internet, your friend’s love letter, …) (Still more advice: maybe you should not use examples from mobile phone text messages. This is because the symbols and characters and shortened forms are language which becomes changed too much) Also please say if you think they are mainly English or more Japanese and make a comment about why you think so. (Advice: this task is about what you think, so if you can give a good reason, that is enough – you opinion is probably right.) Also, is it just the word which looks unusual or unnatural or the grammar too. Do it in the table below 138 English in Japan . Examples Where you More English or Does the original Your comments about why the examples seem more found the example more Japanese? meaning change? English or more Japanese (Yes / A bit / Not really / No / Not Applicable) 1 Words taken from other languages (especially English) 2 Onomatopoeic (ie expressing sounds) words and expressions 3 Names of plants and animals 4 Foreign names and places 5 Special men’s, women’s and other names 139 English in Japan 6 Rejoinder particles at end of sentences 7 Emphasizing things 8 Stylized texts, such as in advertising 9 Any Other? What? 140 English in Japan 4 b. iii Katakana and Phonemics of English (and Other Languages) Some points about phonemics of spoken Japanese being a bit more different than most people realize were mentioned in Section 4a. Also the last section examined katakana as a way to use English in Japan. That section looked at katakana as a way to use English as written language. There is the phenomenon called katakana English mentioned before, which basically is pronouncing English (and other languages) as if it was Japanese. But Japanese phonemes are usually aspirated (ie people use their voice) and are mostly combinations of what for English are called vowels and consonants – in English these all have their own sounds which ostensibly are all separate. One morning I was talking to some people in the office here in Japan about 鍋料理 nabe ryouri hotpot cooking, and one of them said, and asked basically “‘Hotto potto’ – how do you pronounce that in English?”. I demonstrated – ‘/hot/ /pot/’ but explained quickly not to say the /to/ in ‘hotto’ or ‘potto’, rather say the /t/ and consciously not use the voice. It became better when they slowed down, and they all were practicing “Hot … pot!”. (but what I did not explain was the English phonetic phenomenon of the minimal pair, basically when sounds of, say two different words are spoken like they are joined together – eg ‘hotpot’ the /~tp~/ in ‘hotpot’ requires the speaker to stop their tongue just back from their teeth blocking any voice sound and at the same time put their lips together to make the /p/ sound. I thought that would have been too much!) Trying to pronounce English sounds in a ‘katakana’ way is not a good idea for 3 reasons: 1. English 44 has single sounds some using no voice (like /p/) but every sound in Japanese is voiced; 2. English has 19 vowel sounds and 24 cononant sounds but Japanese has ony 5 vowels So, the Japanese way to say ‘hotpot’ has four pronounced and 14 basic consonant sounds; syllables, the more standard English way has just two. 3. English sounds can be Katakana English normally uses a much larger number of independent but Japanese syllables than English. Also, as mentioned in Lecture two, customarily combines several sounds in English do not occur in Japanese. On this consonants and vowels and that basis, Moizumi’s (2010) support for a Japanese variety of is what people who grow up sith English would seem shaky. However, he looks towards an Japanese think is normal. English core of certain phonemes (shown earlier in Table 1), In short, ‘katakana’-type which he believes that Japanese can produce appropriately. phonemics are too limited for However, it is the practice of combining sounds in Japanese English. which are always distinct in English which causes the problems. This means that Japanese L1 people can use the English core phonemes and maybe sound OK, but trying to pronounce English as katakana sounds does not work, except for other Japanese-speaking people (maybe). Or the English words pronounced in a Japanese way actually have lost their Englishness for Japaneseness. 141 English in Japan I have often tried to demonstrate these points by having Japanese people try to do haiku in English. With 17 syllables, haiku (actually senryu, a general-themed haiku, as haiku specifically are supposed to have references to seasons and attendant feeling or atmosphere). In composing them in English, people in Japan have to abandon the normal way of counting syllables in Japanese. It would seem that haiku in English are shorter, but that is not really so – Japanese uses different on and kun pronunciations of kanjis plus ellipsis of some grammar which can make Japanese haiku sometimes 25% more succinct than English ones (Doyle 2010). This point was examined also in Lecture 2, and some examples given. In this section, I want to see how Japanese itself has been affected by contact with English (and other languages). If the history of katakana is considered, there was a very long time (maybe form 800 or 1,200 years) in which katakana did change very much – basically people would use a common kanji, which had the same sound for a lot of different meanings, and they would use that to make a sound that they needed to express in their writing. An example is ‘多’ た/タ ta, which also has a pronunciation 多(い) おお(い) oo(i), and means a lot or many – the katakana character タ ta is supposed to come from this kanji character. Can you find it in Figures 20 or 21 below. These charts show probable source kanji characters for hiragana and katakana characters Figure 20: Source Kanji Characters for Hiragana (Source: omniglott.com) 142 English in Japan Figure 21: Source Kanji Characters for Katakana (Source: omniglott.com) After Japanese people first started having contact with European languages (first Portuguese and Spanish, later Dutch) words from those languages did enter Japanese. But these language items were not very many, and usually it was just a few nouns. Stanlaw (2004) mentions ビール bi-ru and レンス rensu from Dutch (bier and lens – ‘beer’ and ‘lens’ in English). 煙草 たばこ タバコ tabako (‘tobacco’) is a similar item, but it is exceptional in that it made it all the way to becoming kanji. There are other items (some are mentioned in Lecture 2) - they are few but significant for other reasons. One point about these words coming into Japanese early on and being written in katakana – there were very few and they were almost all nouns. There was not really anything which changed Japanese language at that time. Many people think words like tobacco and bier and castella (cake) are really significant but they are not. The only thing which these words show is that Japanese language was and is capable of taking in words and expressions from other languages – but this was already clear from Chinese (and Korean) influences from over a thousand years before any Japanese person smoked their first pipe. The big changes in the language affected by English and other European languages would happen later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, and these changes are discussed next. In the end however, more and more words and expressions were entering Japanese and, especially after 1811 (after 1858 when the government started to come together with a modernization agenda) government-sanctioned translation got into higher gears. This is when katakana began to change. Basically, they started to make new-style katakana (which Stanlaw (2004 Chapter 4) calls “innovative katakana”) by using and mixing the older katakana characters to match new sounds in new words from other languages. They could do this, because making new kanji (especially later after the 143 English in Japan government took over education and deciding what people should and should not learn) needed approval from higher up. But katakana did never needed anybody’s permission (a point mentioned in the last lecture in Section 3a). This process has continued up until the present, at which times, anybody (even me! and you!) in Japan can use katakana to match particular spoken sounds. Stanlaw (2004 Chapter 4) goes into this history in some detail, and points out that there are new katakana “innovative katakana’’ as well as smaller older katakana systems. Below, in Figure 22, Stanlaw’s set of ‘innovative katakana’ are represented, while in Figure 23 a recent chronology of when some of these have entered usage in Japan since the middle of the 20th Century is shown. Figure 22: New ‘Innovative’ Katakana variations entering Usage in Japanese since the early 19th Century. (Source: Stanlaw 2004 pp 86-87) 144 English in Japan Figure 23: New katakana variations entering usage in Japan since the mid 20th Century (Source: Stanlaw 2004 p 88) One interesting outcome Having to deal with an expanded set of phonemes has been one of the affects of English (and other languages) on Japanese. However, one other noticeable phenomenon has been the practice of taking the English words to fit basic Japanese syllabic phonemic patterns. For instance, taking some items from the examples mentioned in the last section, it is easy to see how this has occurred. One other, the verb ‘(to) get’ is considered – it is a bit special, because of how it is used in English as an all-round verb (like する suru in Japanese), but from which just the nuance of to take or receive or win are kept when it is used in of there being contact with and use of lots of different Japan languages is that in the Japanese-language sound system expanded to be able to make some new sounds that traditionally were never in Japanese language. Japanese. Also the grammar of ‘ゲット get’ is different in Japanese. These are all listed in Figure 24. A good article with comprehensive phonemic charts comparing English and Japanese phonemics is by Barry Kavanagh (2007). The only limitation is that it gravitates to an Anglo-British pronunciation style as a standard – I don’t think that people should use traditional English-speaking models as standards, but as startingpoints for discussions it is OK as long as discussion includes Englishes which are newer than in the US or UK. 145 English in Japan Original English items How the English phonemes could seem more accurately phonemically written in romaji representations of As Japanese phonemes in romaji In Japanese as katakana Comments katakana and in katakana James Bond je i m’ zu bo n du ジェインズ ボンデゥ je- mu zu ジェームズ Each of these has either a schwa /ə/ or a voiceless vowel, which can be encoded in Japanese as an /u/ sound that bo n do ボンド is often not clearly voiced in Japanese. Yet, in Japanese becomes a marked voiced sound, usually with /o/. The same is the case with ゲット ge tto and グッド (イデア) gu ddo (idea) action a ku shu n アクシゥン a ku sho n アクション drama du ra- ma デゥラーマ do ra ma ドラマ (a) hit hi tu ヒテゥ hi tto ヒット (Good) idea! gu dda i de a (gu ddo) (いい) This is a good example of an English minimal pair (ie when last syllable of one word is joined to the first syllable of グッダイディア i de a イデア the next). Therefore unlike Japanese katakana pronunciation, English pronunciation does not correspond with spelling. Plausible that ‘idea’ is actually from German, in which ‘i’ is pronounced as ‘i’ in English ‘is’, and ‘dea’ as separate phonemes, /de/ and /a/ (/idea/) (a) coaster ko u su taコウスター ko- su ta- (to) get ge tu ゲテゥ ge tto Daniel Craig コースター The first part of this word shows how Japanese vowel sounds are simpler than English which can have multiple phonemes (eg /ou/ for ‘oa’) da nie ru ku r e i gu da ni e ru ダニュル クレイグ ku re i gu ゲット (す This word needs different syntax (normally coupled with the modal する suru to articulate narrow meaning of to る) ‘receive’ or to ‘achieve’. This is unlike the English, in which ‘get’ is itself a multi-semantic modal verb. ダニエル Showing a limitation of Japanese not able to distinguish /r/ and /l/. This reflects one point where katakana English in クレイグ Japan departs from phonemic forms of other Englishes. Figure 24: Differences in English and Japanese Phonemics if Encoded as Katakana. (NB See Stanlaw 2004 p 74 Table 3.5 for a more detailed set of examples and technical explanations) 146 English in Japan 4 b. iv. Comments and Warning about Learning Katakana, Romaji, English, Japlish and English in Japan First comment is that much of what is talked about in these lectures is historical and anthropological – this means that I describe things as they are (or at least how I see they are), not as they should be. For example, I have described and discussed the Japanese which Ranald MacDonald heard and wrote down in his notebook, and which can now be seen in a museum in Nagasaki. Nowadays nobody would ever tell people to use that as a model for studying Japanese. But 160 years ago, there was no other model, and even the Japanese people at the Interpreter School in Nagasaki realised that All the languge even Ranald MacDonald’s regional north American English was a examples in this book better model than the English that they had been hearing before all – the example texts, mediated through a Dutch translation of an English grammar book and also small published in 1724. I could say that all the English examined here is examples in the the type of thing that could be seen or heard in a language museum. discussion – all could So please look at these just as artifacts, NOT as examples of English in Japan to learn and use yourself. For instance, as can be seen, go into a linguistic katakana is a bit problematic, especially if it is used for a basis for pronouncing English. Also, it can be seen that using katakana phonemes in romaji is of course not the same as English spelling. that museum. This means they stand alone, and you do not and maybe not use examples should them for as your own English Both of these are serious points for learning English in Japan. At the bottom line, as soon as English is mixed with Japanese, the English loses some of its Englishness (and the Japanese some of its Japaneseness). This is because teachers and students usually prefer a disparate foreign language (ie separate from their own language). Rather, the amorphized English in Japan I am talking about here of course should NOT be seen as a variety to be learned. This is, to be realistic, despite the fact that it is the type and style which is most prevalent in Japan, including things taken from English, written in katakana and spoken as ‘Japlish’ (see Lecture 2 Section 2f). 4 c. i Kana and Romaji Variations, Japanese and English Pronunciation James Curtis Hepburn was discussed in Chapter 3 as an individual who had singular significance with regard to English in Japan. One reason is for his Hepburn system of writing kana phonemes in romaji (ヘボンしき hebon shiki. Also referred to as hyojinshiki Standard System’ (Stanlaw 2004 p 67)). Hepburn was an American, so naturally his romaji system was going to reflect English phonemes (more particularly the north American variety of English he was accustomed to). Also, he lived and worked in Yokohama, which is very close to the variety of Japanese which became a standard in 147 or English in Japan Japan. There are a couple of other systems which are used in Japan, with different romaji spelling systems, or orthographies. For example, should the kana symbol し or シ be written as ‘shi’(Hepburn system) or as ‘si’ from the government system (訓令式 kunrei shiki) and Japan system (日本式 nippon shiki)? The answer is ‘It depends!’ For instance, as Stanlaw points out, the Hepburn system is used in local government and on railway signs, but the kunrei system is taught in schools. So, at different times different romaji spellings are going to occur. Which is appropriate? Again, it depends – it depends on whether it is Japanese or English or another language which is being written. This becomes clearer if the different kana and romaji orthography systems are looked at, as presented in Table 9 (Stanlaw 2004 p 67) Hiragana し ち つ づ ぢゃ ぢ ぢゅ ぢょ じゃ じ じゅ じょ Hyoujunnshiki Kunreishiki Nipponshiki shi chi tsu zu ja ji ju jo ja ji ju jo si ti tu zu zya zi zyu zyo zya zi zyu zyo si ti] tu du dya di dyu dyo zya zi zyu zyo Table 9: Comparisons of Differences in 3 Japanese Romaji Systems (Source: Stanlaw 2004 p 67 Table 3.3) (NB: The ‘Hyoojun-shiki’ is otherwise called the Hepburn system) There seem to have been other romaji scripts in Japan since 500years ago. According to omniglot.com, the first were based on Portuguese and later Dutch phonemic-based syllabries. In modern Japanese, the present systems date from: • • • 1867, for James Curtis Hepburn’s English-based script; 1886 for what might be hybrid or even original Nippon-shiki compiled by Tanakadate Aikitsu (who was a physicist who spent a lot of time in Scotland and Germany and started aviation and seismology research centers at Tokyo (Imperial) University) who presented it to the Romaji-kai (Hannas 1997 pp 41-44 describes some of this history). 1937 when the central government in Japan ordered a new romaji script developed from the Nippon-shjiki, the Kunrei system, to be used probably as a Japanese nationalistic anti-western policy. Ironically in 1954 the Kunrei system was revised set 148 English in Japan to to be taught in Japanese elementary schools and later recognized by the US government as the authoritative Roman writing system for Japanese Warner (2011) tells about this, with extra details on omniglot.com and scriptsource.org. But Warner (2011) thinks only about English. If the romaji is for English words, then the Hepburn system is appropriate, because it is based on English phonemics – it is designed to spell Japanese as if it were English, which is why ‘し’ is written as ‘shi’!. However, the other systems are not based on English phonemics. It is difficult to see what phonemics they are based on, besides Japanese. Which is why ‘し’ is written as ‘si’! The sound of し of course is /ʃɪ/ In English it is spelt ‘shi’, ‘schi’ in German! Where does ‘si’ come from then? Italian? Does this mean that, say the kunrei (government) system is actually Italian? No! It is not simple like that, and neither should people even think of what phonemics of what language is being The kurei system of romaji is indigenous Japanese culture. It works for Japnese language. It does not work for English, which has its own ‘romji’ system. So, for English use the Hepburn system. used. The answer is that the kunrei system is the Japanese spelling system using romaji – this is how the government has decided to write (and spell) し in Roman script as ‘si’. Nipponshiki is basically an early version of kunreishiki 4 c ii Japanese, Different Romaji Systems and English: a comment In other words, romaji systems, apart from the Hepburn system, are indigenous Japanese. Especially the kunrei system is an indigenous cultural artifact. This means that by using them people are deciding to pronounce sounds like ‘si’ in a Japanese way (that is as / sɪ / and not / ʃɪ / (the English way) Regarding English in Japan, especially amorphized English, people need to be careful which romaji system they use. As mentioned before, using systems apart from the Hepburn system means, actually, that people are NOT using English! This is a problem for Japanese people. In Japanese, and for Japanese communication of course, having different romaji systems is possible. This is because people normally use other scripts (kana) instead. In school education in teaching Japanese (国語 こくご kokugo) the kunrei system is appropriate. However, in foreign language education, is it appropriate? Sometimes – perhaps for Italian. However for English in Japan the kunrei romaji system is not appropriate. This is simply because particular pronunciations do not sound like English if pronounced in an English phonemic way. So, for use the Hepburn system please. 149 English in Japan Using Romaji and Using Roman Script in an English Language Context Task 12: In the table below, please write the romaji alphabet, then an example of a word starting with each letter, which you should write both in romaji and in the normal Japanese script. Then write how you would explain the word in English. (Advice: this task is to help you to start thinking about katakana, and words from English and other languages amorphized into Japanese) (Hint: there are 26 spaces – 2 examples are already done. Try to do 24 more) (More advice: if it is clear that you use a dictionary for this task, you will certainly lose marks or possibly fail this course. So, please use your own knowledge only. If you want to talk with other people about it, that is OK. But using a dictionary – that is too easy and it is not thinking, which is what I want you to do) 150 English in Japan a seminar (Example) z zemi ゼミ Questions: Any letters in the English alphabet which you could not use for writing Japanese in romaji script? ………. Which? ………………………………………………………………………………….. Why, do you think you could not use those letters? - - - 151 English in Japan Summary of Sections 4 b and c Katakana is used for much more than non-Japanese words. Actually it is arguable that English and other languages have changed Japanese by expanding the use of katakana, and also the range of phonemes in Japanese. English can be mixed with Japanese in written form as katakana or romaji. But as katakana it can be mixed syntactically. There are different romaji systems: the Hepburn ‘hyoojun shiki’ system based on English phonemics and kunrei shiki (government system), based on Japanese phonemic interpretation of romaji characters, being the more common. 152 English in Japan Task 13: Romaji for Japanese and Romaji for English in Japan Please look at the 8 (sets of) examples of katakana words which you made in Task 11.Please re-write them in romaji in the table below. (Advice: you need to do this twice, according to the Hepburn system (ie hyoojun shiki) and in the government system (ie kunrei shiki)) (More advice: sometimes there are some tricky romaji spellings. For example, there is a train station in Yokohama called 上大岡, which in English is often written as ‘Kamioka’. This is not really correct, is it. It should be kamioooka カミオオオカ! But the Hepburn system lets people write just ’o’ for オオ/oo/ (not /o:/, which sounds like English ‘or’), and that is confusing for people who do not know about it too. Also, sometimes in English people write ‘Kamiouka’, which shows the middle /オオオ/ as a long sound, which is a little bit correct. Another example is a name like 斉藤 さいとう, which is usually written as ‘Saito’, even though it should be written as saitou. The safest way is just to use the Hepburn system – the best way to write both Japanese and English in romaji and in Roman script - together.) Also please say which one you think is more appropriate (ie. better). Katakana Items Hepburn hyoojun system romaji Government kunrei system romaji 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 153 Comment (ie which romaji system is more appropriate, why) English in Japan 5. Expressing in Japanese or in English in Japan: colour and sense This chapter is about words – sometimes a Japanese word is used, sometimes not, and sometimes people just make up a word – that is if people understand of course. People learn words and expressions, by hearing them and by seeing them. But there are two other factors: when and where people hear or see them. Where, how and more importantly when (in its history) people hear or see a word or expression are considered as factors in people choosing which word or expression to use. 5a. Expressing in Japanese or in English – how and why This lecture is entitled ‘Expressing in Japanese or in English…’. I know ‘Expressing’ is an unusual word to use, but it is the best word I could think of to say ‘having an idea or an image or something else in one’s head and finding the best way to communicate it accurately and understandably’. Other words could be ‘articulate’, ‘communicate’, or even ‘say’. But the nuance I wanted to have is ‘communicated direct from inside one’s mind to the outside, to other people ’. Then, ‘in English or in Japanese’ – well people do not normally make a clear decision that they will use one language this time or a different language another time. People normally are too focused on communicating, or expressing. Also, as I have been trying to say all through these lectures with the Continuum model, I think there is a cross-over area between English and Japanese, in that things people hear or see or write or say can be more English / more Japanese / less English / less Japanese. It is not the form of what people wish to say or write. Rather it is the meaning - the idea, impression, information, emotion – which they have and wish to express. i. Impression Sense and colour are chosen as fields for this discussion, because they are tangible things and they normally do not have compound meanings (ie. meanings with more than one part). For instance, if I say blue, it is a colour of, say, the sky on a sunny day and that is all; or it can be a feeling of sadness and that is the start and the end of the meaning I wish to express. However also the meanings of words in these fields are based on a person’s impressions, And impressions are often mediated by experience – including experience of hearing or reading other people’s impressions. Also, colour and sense are phenomena which often occur in everyday life, especially in shopping, advertising, and have a rich range of language to choose from. ii. Context, including purpose Most importantly, in Japan people often switch from using colour and sense expressions from Japanese and also from English, depending on context. This is a key theme of this lecture. There is not a lot of in the literature about this issue, of people in Japan using 154 English in Japan English words as Japanese, except as examples of borrowing/gairaigo/mixing/hybridity/nativization (making words on one’s language in an original way – I don’t really like this idea though). Stanlaw (2004) acknowledges this issue, but does not examine reasons for it in depth. Loveday (1996) on the other hand attempts to account for it. You don’t need to know all of this, but you do have to know that it happens. Below I have put in three tables from Loveday’s book (Figures 25 and 26) below, because this is the clearest way to show how and why English gets mixed with Japanese – clearly it seems that users of English and Japanese show similar behaviour when making semantic items (ie words or expressions) in their language cultures. Thus, when English enters Japanese language culture, then there is open chance that the same kinds of word/expression process are likely to occur. In other words, Loveday therefore thinks that this same language behaviour in Japanese also happens in English, such as clipping (cutting bits off words like コンビニ konbini convenience store) and attaching semantically significant but grammatically wrong words together (eg マイホーム,マイカー mai ho-mu, maika- and individual’s home, car). iii. Taboos In his book Loveday (1996) does tell the obvious point that people use words from English and other languages as Japanese when talking about taboo subjects, such as toilets, disease and sex. The idea (which lots of people easily agree with) is that by using loanwords, people keep Japanese pure. An easy example is トイレ toire toilet, from English or French instead of 便所 benjo or (literally and euphemistically) shit house. Asking people to explain why not benjo usually results in mystification or embarrassed laughter, but rarely an explanation except the xenophobic idea of keeping Japanese pure. More telling is another point made by Loveday (1996 p 196), which he labels “semantic opacity”. This just means making the meaning a bit unclear so different nuances can be given while keeping the meaning ambiguous. In this sense, context – where, when and how – English becomes used really is important. This makes it very easy to make puns in Japanese, even more so if English is used with Japanese in Japan. iv. Convenience In the last lecture about writing systems, I mentioned that katakana is convenient because people do not need government permission to make or use kanji characters in new ways – people just make a word, encode it in katakana, and taking words off the shelf from other languages like English is an easy, convenient way to do this. But this is writing – many words are not written first, rather spoken. And that actually is pretty normal behaviour with pidgin and creole language varieties, as discussed in the first two lectures (see Section 2f). I don’t give lots of examples here, mainly because lots of the words and expressions 155 English in Japan are quite local (like ウォッ茶 uoccha vod-cha! in the bar), or just don’t last or stay fashionable very long. However, the simple point is that at any time people in Japan probably will have contact with amorphized English, probably used more like Japanese 156 English in Japan Figure 25: Why and How English is Used in Expressions As and With Japanese (Source: Loveday 1996 pp 144, 190) 157 English in Japan Figure 26: How Words and Expressions are Made in Japanese (Source: Loveday, pp 146-147) 158 English in Japan 5 b. Colour Much of this section is drawn from Stanlaw (2004), especially colour which was the theme of his research reported in Chapter 9 of his book. In his data there are some interesting patterns about choices of language to express colours, which illustrate how English and Japanese compliment and supplement each other in this field. 5 b. i What colours are there in Japan? Based on findings from research done in California with one person in California (Berlin & Kay 1969, 1991), Stanlaw reports on his own study of colour identification in Japan. His focus was something called linguistic and cultural relativism (ie seeing how people in different cultures and language communities say the same types of things sometimes similarly and sometimes differently), but the data from the people about colours he asked about and showed, tell a lot about the words people choose and the influence of English on the language these people use in a Japanese communication context. Basically these data support the point made by Koscielecki (2000) quoted at the very start of these lectures: Although the English language in Japan is made functionally suitable for some domains using exoglossic norm-providing varieties, Japanese speakers do not codify all their experiences through this medium in the Japanese context. It is not common for the Japanese speakers to use English for communication among themselves. … This is like, as in the last section, people in Japan are just speaking the language they speak which is mainly identifiable as Japanese but which can often include words and expressions which identifiably are English. In linguistic terms, ‘exoglossic norm-providing varieties’ is the key point – this means that they take something from the English relevant to certain things and transfer it partly or wholly into Japanese context. The range of colours is listed below in Table 10. This table lists the colours as primary Japanese colour references, secondary and then non-Japanese, and the number of times they were mentioned. A better set of data is in Table 11, which shows overall proportional frequency of mention (ie the percentage of the total times they were mentioned). The colours mentioned in lower case are the non-Japanese colour names. Significant is pink and orange being mentioned so frequently (43% and 45% respectively). Though other non-Japanese colours are mentioned, the significance of the frequency of these two is that they would seem to fill a semantic gap in Japanese people’s consciousness –Japanese people may not have a word for these colours, or feel they cannot adequately refer to them without use of the non-Japanese colour terms (in both these cases ostensibly English words). Pursuing the same line of thought, data in Table 12 relating to age groups show a spike in the levels of reference to these colours (and non-Japanese colours over all) among high school, university and ‘post university’ groups. Contrastingly there are noticeable dips in frequency of mention of Japanese primary colours among the same age groups. 159 English in Japan Table 10: Range of Colours and Frequency of Mention by Number of Japanese Respondents (Total No 91)(Source: Stanlaw 2004 p 218) 160 English in Japan Table 11: Range of Colours and Frequency of Mention by Percentages of Japanese Respondents (Source: Stanlaw 2004 p 220) 161 English in Japan Table 12: Range of Colours and Frequency of Mention by Age Group of Japanese Respondents (Source: Stanlaw 2004 p 218) Task 14: Research on Telling Colours This task is short, looks difficult, but is probably easier than you think. What you have to do is simply to give a title to each of the tables with data about colours. So, … Please give each table a title. (Advice: there is no perfectly correct answer and there is more than one answer.) (More advice: the easy way to do this is to look in the table and make a list of what you see. Don’t just write things like ‘colours’ or ‘numbers’!! ‘What colours?’, or ‘What numbers?’ –what are they about? – are questions you should think about. If you can find answers, please write them down and try to make them into titles.) (Hint: if you really are having problems, look in the Lecture texts on the course webpage.) Do this in the space under each Table. 162 English in Japan 5 b. ii How New Ways of Telling Colour may have Developed It would be nice to generalize that consciousness of colour and reference to it with non-Japanese (ie English) words shows that English (and other languages) is entering and filling semantic gaps in Japanese. But such a view is simplistic, and limitations in the data inhibit this conclusion. More significant is the way in which these colours are mentioned (ie spoken), for instance /pInku/’ pinku rather than /pInk/ pink. Naturally the original English pronunciations become altered, in some senses being re-encoded in a Japanese way. This is similar to how a Japanese word like カラオケ karaoke becomes /karIƏukI/ (karioki) sometimes when English speakers say it. Two limitations with using these data are that colour categorization is frequently culture-specific - each culture has its own special way, or things appear in a unique way in a given culture. Also, it is not clear whether Stanlaw gave the Japanese respondents a list of the colours before collecting the data. Further, some colours (from a paint chart shown to the people) are not normally found in Japanese art and design – the colours may not occur traditionally in Japanese culture, and hence there may not be a Japanese philology (ie source of the expression) of names for them. All the same the results are thought-provoking. 5 b. iii Colour, Sense and a Culture of English: a comment I mentioned before that colour and sense are two fields about which discourse frequently occurs in the mass media. Earlier in Lecture 4 (Sections 4 a. iv and v), I mentioned how a culture of English has been developing in the decades after World War II – partly within and because of mass media - and that within this culture, amorphization of English into Japanese was taking place. In a sense such a culture has at its core the behaviour or language practice of taking items from English (and other languages) after which such words etc. change into a more ‘Japanese’ form, as was discussed in the last sections. References to and articulations of colour in the research results cited above is an example of the manner in which such a culture of English has occurred. The next section deals with the semantics of sense, and how it has been occurring in Japanese. Summary of Sections 5a & 5b Japanese and English show similar processes for making expressions and words. Therefore the ways people make expressions and words using English mixed with Japanese are not surprising. Why people do this relates to the impression or semantic point a person needs to communicate, context, taboo fields where pure Japanese seems inappropriate, and convenience. Research shows that, in Japanese, people articulate some colours using words taken from English and other languages. This is prevalent among young adults. This maybe due to semantic gaps in Japanese, or also impact of similar usage in the mass media. In any case it shows amorphization of English in Japanese lexis. Further, increasing recourse to use of English and other languages in Japanese evidences a culture of English (or at least a culture governed by the cultural practice of taking from other languages and seeing such items change – amorphize – into more appropriate and recognizable Japanese form).. 163 English in Japan 5c Sense Colours are tangible - you can see them. But sense is often intangible - you cannot really feel or ‘sense’ it. Reference to sense can be abstract, whimsical, emotional or simply subjective. In this context ‘sense’ relates to feeling but is not about being tactile - you can physically feel it; rather ‘sense’ here means being able to express feelings, including atmosphere, tone, and even degree (how strong or how weak). Sense can also refer to experience, relating to the tone or quality of experience. Sense reference then should not be able to be quantified. What is an example of a sense word? ‘Dull’ is a good word – meaning listness, slow, no energy, a bit sad maybe, certainly not bright. A Japanese equivalent is だ るい darui – it means the same as the English, except without the reference to sad or colour (ie ‘not bright’) – just the feeling. This word is interesting because it is a very, very amorphized English word, actually. However it is written in hiragana, not katakana! Do you know the English word it actually comes from? I am not going to tell you (but if you look in one of the tables showing Amorphized English words in Japanese you can find the answer)! Another good example I can find to illustrate this is Donald Richie (1983), in an essay, saying that English lacks something because it does not have a word carrying a semantic like the Japanese word しぶい shibui. A dictionary would translate this as ‘astringent (taste)’ but the nuance in Japanese transcends just taste, meaning in some senses understated or restrained (Dunn 2007). This is just an example. This section seeks to go in the opposite direction and see how English (or other languages’) expressions are a way for Japanese to articulate sense. 5c i. A Model to Explain the Language Choice Process. Once again I refer to Stanlaw (2004) who enters the culture and psychology fields to explain his research and conclusions. I prefer to resist this because I am not convinced of the generalizability (ie. the same condition is true for all such situations) of such models. I believe that they act best as a suggestion or guide as to what might be going on in a person’s head when they are choosing what to say. Also, there is too much variation in the contexts, also in the different concepts, images, impressions and other types of meaning which people may want to articulate. In order to demonstrate this as simply as possible, I reproduce here Stanlaw’s initial model (in Figure 27). I think Stanlaw’s model here is a bit naïve compared to Loveday’s (1996) lists shown at the start of the lecture: Stanlaw points out that one of the ways people articulate sense (and experience) is through loanwords, or even making new words by changing the original English, but Loveday goes much further by trying to account for this phenomenon. But Stanlaw makes some points which I think are simple ways to understand how people are thinking when they are mixing some English with Japanese. The significant bit here is on the bottom line in Figure 27. Later Stanlaw (2004 pp 225, 226) describes an example with a word which was used in the 1980s,  パープル pa-puru (‘purple’), and 164  English in Japan パープリン pa-purin (‘purpling’ or ‘making trouble’). The former is a colour, so can be a noun or adjective. The other is a like a noun, but can become a verb if used with する suru. The word has been used in connection with ぼおそ おぞく boosoozoku (young ‘bikies’ or ‘bikers’ on loud motorbikes). Stanlaw (2004) uses this word because of its weird morphology: ie. choosing not just an English word, but also an English grammar form - the use of an English present participle ~ing form as gerund in Japanese ( Loveday (1996 p 209) mentions a similar example in passing, 帰リング kaeringu go(ing) home). As well, based on interview data, Stanlaw reports textual examples from the anthropological context of boosoozoku subculture. However, since I first read about this, I have asked different people in Japan (Japanese teachers, young people male and female, with and without motorbikes) but nobody had ever heard the expression パープリン pa-purin. I am not surprised though – expressions go in and out of fashion at different times as language changes. And both Stanlaw’s and Loveday’s lists are from the mid- and late 1990s, almost 20 years ago. Actually I think my example with だるい darui / dull mentioned at the start of this section is much simpler and easier. 5c ii Language Amorphized and Language Changed Stanlaw also has made a schematic model (reproduced here as Figure 27) showing how pa-puru and pa-purin could be cognified (ie thought up and thought about). This is a useful model as a guide or illustration of different factors involved. However I do not wish to say that it is conclusive. Pa-purin (‘purpling’) is associated with behaviour and generally has a negative sense about it. For instance, it is linked to young ‘bikies’ in Japan who usually roam around in gangs being disruptive and anti-social, though frequently having a social hierarchy within a gang or group. Stanlaw reports that within these social groups pa-purin (‘purpling’) behaviour is a kind of purpose – it is what they do! (p 225) The image comes from purple as a colour signifying something modern, maybe showy and even silly. The ‘–in’ at the end of pa-purin is a corruption of the morphological form ‘–ing’ for English gerunds or present participles – in other words a bit of an amorphization . So, clearly for an English word referring to a fairly common colour to become used in Japanese to describe the tone of a certain anti-social behaviour by a subculture of predominantly young males, is quite a stretch. Thus, pa-puru and pa-purin are interesting examples of how English has entered, become mixed and altered – amorphized – into a more recognizable Japanese phonemic form, and used semantically and even in appropriate Japanese syntactical contexts. 165 English in Japan Figure 27: A Model of Cognitive Processes Leading towards Use of Words taken Partly or Wholly from English or Other Languages and Used in Japanese. (Source: Stanlaw 2004 p 242 Figure 10.1) Also, interestingly, the colour purple does not occur on Stanlaw’s lists of colours (discussed in Section 5a before and listed in Tables 10-12). That could make someone wonder if it is recognizable as a colour in Japanese culture. This does not stop Stanlaw continuing to discuss the vocabulary of ‘purple’ further. A final treatment of the colour is where he compares the Japanese 紫 murasaki (‘darker, indigo purple, though sometimes a bit softer in tone, but definitely not bright’) with the word ‘purple’ (pa-puru) as a word taken from English and used in Japanese contexts. This analysis does show different nuances and significances associated with either word. This comparison is reproduced here as Figure 28. 166 English in Japan Figure 28: Schematics and Context for Cognifying pa-puru and pa-puringu. (Source: Stanlaw 2004 p 257 Figure 10.4) 5 c. iv Amorphization of ‘Purple’: a comment. Though I rely heavily on Stanlaw’s work in this lecture, I do so because these examples illustrate quite well what I have been trying to say about amorphization. If you recall, in Lecture 2 Section 2 I tried to demonstrate that not just meaning but also grammar can change. In the example of pa-purin here, its use as a noun in Japanese correlates with English morphology and syntax rules too. Stanlaw also gives a comparative example of tre-ningu ‘training’ in a railway advertising campaign – the intention being to articulate catching or using a train as an activity of leisure (p 255). There is a kind of grammatical metaphor here – using grammar to convey a different nuance or meaning instead of changing the root word. In this sense the philology of purple remains, but a lot of other semantic baggage is added. Also, it is noticeable that words such as 電車イング denshaingu or 紫イング murasakiingu (referring to activities linked to the words for train and purple of Japanese origin) do not occur. Why not, I wonder: the easy answer is that densha and murasaki are very, very rooted in Japanese, with specific kanji and very strongly accepted customary ways to use the words, and also not use them. And I wonder the extent to which they might come to the 167 English in Japan minds of people in Japan besides me. So, パープル pa-puru (‘purple’), and パープリン pa-purin (‘purpling’) are good examples of how it is likely that semantic roots from English can be the philological base of amorphization, rather than syntax/grammar. Morphology – eg, the ~ing – is another but far less significant base. One other comment: it’s quite easy to see how these words could develop in the mass media or in advertising (actually tre-ningu did come from advertising, but is not a word in common usage). People hear these words, and if there is a meaningful context in which they can use the words, the people can choose to or choose not to use such words. However, later, if and when a word becomes more often used outside of the mass media, it is then that they become a more proper part of the language. If such words or expressions are drawn from English (or other languages), then they become part of the language used in Japan. Whether amorphized English or considered as loanwords, here is another field of English in Japan which needs to be considered for its communicative and semantic significance. Summary of Section 5c An examination of words relating to sense or experience demonstrates how words or expressions from English or other languages amporphize into Japanese lexically and syntactically. Yet, the first uses of many such items are in the mass media. Later, if the words actually reach mainstream usage, then they can be considered part of the language used in Japan. Summary of Lecture 5 Colour, sense (and experience) are useful semantic fields for investigating English and other languages entering, altering and influencing Japanese. Frequently this seems like a cultural practice of adoption and adaptation of language items sourced from outside of Japanese, as this has happened at different times in Japanese cultural history before. Words and expressions taken from English and other languages both fill apparent semantic gaps in Japanese, but also are used for their novelty or strangeness value to attract attention, for instance in the mass media. The words and expressions change phonemically, semantically and also even syntactically. In the end, if such words or expressions become used more often outside of the mass media, then they can be considered to have become part of the language used in Japan. 168 English in Japan Linear Process of Language being Taken from English, Mixing with Japanese and Changed Task 15: In this task you have to decide upon an English expression used in Japan, and along a line show how it has started to become used in Japan, if and how it has mixed with Japanese, if and how it has been changed, what it means now and contexts of its usage (ie where, when, by whom and to whom, and why). Remember to show the expression in the text where you find it. Here is an example Text: Original whole text: ベースにポークとチキン… • • • be-su ni po-ku to chikin (‘pork and chicken as bases’) ２層のアイス…アイスクリーム入りもなか「コンフェ」（3 月 30 日） 白桃のみずみずしさ…チューハイ「ほろよい＜もも＞」（3 月 28 日） ベースにポークとチキン…即席カップめん「タテロング ご当地最前線 函館しおラーメン」（3 月 25 日） (Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/gourmet/, viewed on 30 March 2009) Normal English words used to explain cooking • A ‘base’ (basic ingredient in cooking) • ‘chicken’, ‘pork’ (types of meat) Words/Expression chosen Ingredients in western-style cooking often use nonJapanese words. This actually distinguishes the style from Japanese-style, which uses Japanese words A base -> be-su ->ベース Pork -> po-ku -> ポーク Chicken -> chikin -> チキン Using katakana - therefore writing and also pronunciation change ~に ~と ~… Noun+に +noun+と+ noun… Not change from Japanese grammar pattern Reason for these English words to be chosen How the words change (i): How the words change (ii): • writing system • phonemics 169 Used in context of newspaper’s webpage menu for cooking/gourmet items Familiar, easy-to-recognize form for readers who normally use Japanese • Grammar Context English in Japan First, choose a text with some English mixed with Japanese. Show the teacher your choice. Then write it in the space above the table. (Advice: more than one line, but less than a page. But try to keep it simple!) Second. what do you think the original English words or expression was? Write what you think in the first space in the table. (Advice: keep this simple too!) Third, why do you think someone originally chose to use this English? Write what you think in the second space in the table (Advice: keep your answer short!) Fourth, how has the English been changed? Write your answers in the next spaces in the table. Think about lexis (ie vocabulary, words which go together, any common expression), writing, syntax (ie grammar), and phonemics (ie pronunciation), or any other language point. Fifth, why do you think someone has decided to use words from English and not Japanese only? Write your answer in the last space. Source of text: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. - Original English Words/Expression chosen Reason for these English words to be chosen • lexis How the words change (i): • writing system • phonemics 170 How the words change (ii): • Grammar • Other Context English in Japan Task 16: Changes in English Used with Japanese in Japan - review These texts are beer-bottle labels framed as a picture-display in a restaurant in Niigata City that sells Yebisu Beer. In this task you have look at the texts in the picture on the left. They are reproduced in the table below. As you can see they are similar. But there are differences mainly among the written language, so please focus on that. (Advice: you get extra points if you mention anything else besides the language.) (More advice: please see what you have done in Lectures 2 & 4) You have to write about Use of English in each text in comparison with all the other texts. Please do this first from an Historical-Cultural Context. (Hint: see Sections 2d, 2fv, 3bvii, 3bix, 3bx, 3bxii, 3cv, 3cvi, 4a, 4b) Also please do this from a Language and Language Form perspective. (Hint: see Sections 2fiii, 2fiv, 4a, 4b, Figures 19-25) There is an example of how to do it in the very last one. (Even more advice: if you can show where language in the texts lies on the ‘Types of English in Japan’ Continuum, as in Figure 5, you can get extra points) 171 English in Japan Meiji Year 23 Meiji Year 26 HistoricalCultural Language/ LLanguag e Form 172 Meiji Year 41 English in Japan Showa Year 11 Showa Year 46 Heisei Year 3 • Historical-C ultural Na me a nd d e sc rip tio n c o p ywriting a ll in Eng lish – g ive s a mo d e rn c o smo p o lita n ima g e , a lso b e e r is no t o rig ina lly • • Ja p a ne se d rink. But ‘ Ye b isu Tra d itio na l’ g ive s ima g e o f o ld p ro d uc t ta ste a nd fe e ling Na me ‘ YEBISU’ in la rg e Ro ma n le tte rs is a c tua lly o ld Ja p a ne se (e g . ‘ YE’ , no t ‘ E’ ) b ut in Ro ma ji lo o ks like Euro p e a n • la ng ua g e , e g . Eng lish. La b e l c o lo ur is g o ld e n, like ric h-ta ste Language/L b e e r, p lus it is a d iffe re nt mo re mo d e rn anguage ima g e fro m o ld e r la b e ls • Form Eng lish in d e sc rip tio n b e lo w is no rma l c o p ywriting style , with wo rds like ‘ ric h’ , ‘ me llo w’ ‘ tra d itio na l a rt’ use d • a p p ro p ria te ly. ‘ Bo rn 1887’ is a b it o d d , b ut c o uld b e use d to ma ke this b e e r se e m a nima te o r living (ie . ‘ b o rn’ , no t ‘ ma d e ’ ).‘ Fro m • 1887’ is b e tte r. Imp o rta nt p ro d uc t d e ta ils in sma ll-writte n ve rtic a l Ja p a ne se te xt o n sid e s, no t intrud ing o n ma in la b e l 173 English in Japan [Chapters 6 and 7 are adapted versions of texts from a content-based set of materials called English in Japan: a content-based program with “dictagloss” (2014) used for an English teachers’ professional development workshop]. 6 Learning English in Japan Learning English in Japan has been examined in Lecture 3b and 3c, about contact with and use of English. For instance, Table 6 lists Shimizu’s (2010) interpretation of how attitudes to English were shaping some of the types of learning of English, especially at government-set curriculum level. I wrote an article in the 1990s called “Some Things in Japanese English Language Education are not New” (Doyle 1994). This was a few years after the JET scheme had started and the Monbushou was trying hard to start up communicative English teaching, even if their efforsts were not so successful or just the wrong thing to do. My article paralleled things happening around Harold Palmer in Japan. Palmer was a British language educationalist who was interested in using early audio-recording technology to help people learn English. In the 1920s (just a hangover from Shimizu’s (2010) Semi-English Master generation in the Taisho-Showa era) Japanese government representatives in Britain found out about Palmer’s work and through contacts different institutions connected with education and the government sponsored Palmer, his daughter and some others to come to Japan to institute their work. What happened was that Palmer’s ideas were not instituted, a bit like recent decades, when new approaches to teaching English were put forward but not properly or widely taken up in school-education institutions. But Palmer was supported until the mid-1930s and different people outside of government still took up his ideas through this time. Learning English in Japan is viewed mainly as institutional, teacher-led, and test-focused success is measured in terms results. of test People understand learning to occur in schools. Successful are learners produced in educational institutions but most successful learners are individuals who consider their purposes and needs and match ways to I wrote that in some ways history was repeating itself in the 1990s, when school education remained quite institutional and traditional. But families were sending the majority of children to juku cram schools to learn in evenings and on weekends because it seemed that the freer, non-government juku and English conversation schools were where meet them rather than just trusting an educational institution with that. Learning English is then, in a sense like the learning of English that people thought they needed was learning anything happening. In this sense, there is an institutional / non-institutional else. divide in how people learn English in Japan (and anywhere for that matter). However, I think that from Chapter 3 it should be apparent that this divide has less to do with history repeating, nor any Confucian, vertical hierarchical 174 English in Japan Japanese respect for authority than the fact that until the 1870s there was no central government policy about language or any education in Japan. So, this background needs to be considered before examining types of learning of English that occur. 6a. Three Basic Types of learning From the beginnings of modern English in Japan, in the early nineteenth century, there have been three ways in which people learn it: institutionally, uninstitutionally and unintentionally. ‘Institutionally’ means through institutions, such as in schools and linked to public purpose, government policy or common curriculum. ‘Uninstitutionally’ means not linked to such public domains, rather personal or private purpose, independently and independent choice. ‘Unintentionally’ means learning without planning to, including without purpose or even awareness of learning process, such as simply by acquiring or picking up knowledge or repertoire of English. 6ai Institutionalized Learning The most common English learned institutionally in Japan is disparate English, and the main way it is learned is through teaching in schools. This began in Nagasaki in 1811, just after the British warship, HMS Phaeton, arrived there in 1808 and English-speaking British sailors spent a few days terrorizing the Dutch traders and local Japanese administrators who thought that the British were speaking Dutch. From that point on Japanese governments have always placed importance on knowing foreign languages in order to deal with people and discourse coming from outside. The most efficient way to deal with it then as now was to translate it. So, in a sense, people were learning to change meaning from an unrecognizable form (that is in English or other languages) into recognizable form (that is into Japanese). Teaching it in school began to happen to everyone in Japan from the 1890s in public school education, and also in universities. Until the wars in the 1930s and 40s British-style English was institutionally learned. Since the War’s end in the 1940s, American-style English was promoted and presumed superior. Schools and learning institutions like juku supplementary schools outside of public education usually taught and helped people learn English to pass tests which were mostly translation-style and many people studied privately with books and other materials for the same purposes. Only recently have institutions like the government and also big companies started English-teaching programs for other, more communicative purposes than translating English into Japanese, such as for using English inside and outside of Japan. This even includes some electronic learning programs and other resources on radio, television and on the internet promoted by national universities and publishers, the national broadcaster and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology. 6aii Uninstitutionalized Learning Uninstitutionalized learning of English probably first occurred in Japan on a needs basis in Hirado near Nagasaki, where English traders were established from 1613 to 1623. This was when some local Japanese staff of the English traders maybe tried to learn some English to 175 English in Japan communicate with the English traders, and maybe a kind of pidgin English-Japanese is what they learned. But English was not as important as Portuguese, Spanish or Dutch then, and any English knowledge was quickly lost. Later in the 19th century, people discovered English had become more important in the world than 200 years before. Therefore they began to learn it in order to be able to communicate directly with people in the world. Ito Hirofumi who secretly escaped from Japan to Britain and actually studied at London University, and Fukuzawa Yukichi, who decided to switch his study focus from Dutch to English when he did not understand some signs written romaji in Yokohama – both in the 1860s. Both show how people have tried to learn English uninstitutionally since. Both had their own purposes for knowing English – to recognize and understand English texts that they had contact with and also to be able to use English in a meaningful and communicative way. People therefore may learn by leaving Japan for an English-speaking place to live and learn there. People may try to learn themselves for their own purposes. There have also been schools teaching things like English conversation outside of the normal institutionalized English education systems, as well as many books, learning centers, internet and other electronic media support programs available inside and outside of Japan. The point is that uninstitutionalized learning does not require teaching of English, though of course teaching is also one way to learn uninstitutionally. Secondly, people learn in uninstitutionalized ways for their own needs and purposes, and normally people are very conscious of their learning. Thirdly, though uninstitutionalized learning may sometimes go together with institutionalized learning of English, people’s uninstitutionalized learning is not limited to learning English in Japan – people can and do learn English outside of Japan. 6aiii Unintentionally Learning English People learn things unintentionally, even subliminally, when they learn without planning to learn them. With language-learning, it happens when people simply pick up the language in no systematic or purposeful way. It is a type of language acquisition, like children pick up their language. Two of the necessary conditions for unintentional language learning are having contact with the language and also a context for using it – if people do not use the language sometime, then nobody can be sure that they have learned the language or not. Learning English in Japan includes picking up some English words or expressions by themselves, being able to use the English, noticing something about that use, and then retaining or keeping this knowledge to use again, most likely in similar or related contexts. The history of subliminal learning of English in Japan is as old as English in Japan. People have always picked up bits and pieces of language that they have contact with and take in. But using the language again in a different way or in a different context may mean that the person changes it – maybe pronunciation, spelling, grammar, even meaning. In some ways this is how English in Japan becomes amorphized into Japanese. Thinking for a moment only about the English, or disparate English, if people pick up some 176 English in Japan English and use it, say, in the way Japanese language is used, then the English loses some of its Englishness. This means that the words or expressions or their pronunciation become less English! After that, people still have contact with the language and may continue to use it in a way different from the original English. There is one other thing in English learning in Japan: learning the way to use English, for example in particular genres or in particular media. This is more like learning literacy skills than language knowledge. Literacy skills, especially when using language like in writing something or doing something with a computer, is a mixture of language knowledge, knowledge about the thing the person is trying to do and also often experience. In this way, knowledge about the thing the person is trying to do and also experience can help the person to succeed in doing it even if their language knowledge is not enough. Yet, at the same time, people can pick up the language which is connected with the thing that they are doing, and then always remember that language form in the same context. The person would not understand all of the meaning, nuance and ways to use the language form, but the person would know enough to use the language form again in the same context. The best example of course is operating a computer program – such as me using a search engine or email in Japanese, or a person in Japan interacting with electronic media containing English in Japan. So, learning English in Japan unintentionally means that people just pick it up in an uncontrolled way, then they may notice the English later. But then they may use it in a way different from the original English. Or people just do what they need to do – say with computers – and any English that they may or may not know is counter-balanced by knowledge and experience of the thing they are doing. In other words, the English itself is not important, rather it is just an incidental part of the things which people do in normal life together with normal Japanese and anything else the person needs to know. Summary of Lecture 6 Institutional, uninstitutional and unintentional learning of English has taken place in Japan, like in other places in the world. Institutional means that people learning English do not choose what to learn nor how to learn it – just like school learning. Uninstitutional learning is when people can and do choose, including choice of institutional learning modes if they want. Unintentional learning is when people do not plan to learn English but texts and other stimuli, schemata and so on in people’s social and cultural environments end up with people noticing or otherwise picking up English without choosing nor planning to. This can include neologisms and other items in Japanese which come from English, and an increasingly significant source is from electronic media use for which literacies contain language components which are actually English or have been sourced from English. 177 English in Japan Task 17*: Your Learning English in Japan (*Optional task, with Task 1 8. Bonus points if you do it) How have you learned English in Japan? - How do you learn English in Japan? - How might you learn English in Japan in the future? - 178 English in Japan 7 Attitudes to English in Japan People’s attitudes to English in Japan revolve around one simple aspect of English in Japan. People traditionally have been able to get along quite well without it. Learning English in Japan is like learning something else, more than is necessary. This might explain some people’s ambivalence or antipathy it would be good, but it is not so simple as that: if English was never necessary or at least never advantageous in Japan, then realistically it may never have sprung up as it has. Most of the attitudes mentioned below developed after English, hence generated by real-life or cultural notion or impression. Later less ambivalent attitudes would develop, if English ever became a viable alternative mode for doing things in Japan, or for doing things from Japan without Japanese. Need and also rejection of cultural self or identity may figure here. Whatever attitudes, it is always complex insofar as people can have one attitude stimulated by one thing and another stimulated by another thing, even simultaneously. Also, no matter the attitudes, even in the mid 20th century war years, English was needed in Japan’s overseas empire because of the absence of People’s attitudes to anyone there knowing enough Japanese for them to be able to get English in Japan vary, but any colonial things done. But that was English outside, not in people usually have more Japan. than one attitude at different 7a Generated Attitudes In 1808 that British warship, HMS Phaeton pretended to be a Dutch whatever, time. But people’s attitudes to English are ship and came into Nagasaki Harbour and bellicose British sailors similar to anyone’s spoke English with Japanese officials who thought that they spoke attitudes to something Dutch. This realization of English as a lingua franca came as a new. shock of something new and, worse, necessary, in decades after. ‘Lingua franca’ here means ‘contact language’ or what people of different language cultures use when they have contact with each other. English became increasingly necessary but not immediately. Even as late as the 1860s when people like philosopher and academic, Fukuzawa Yukichi, had contact with English in Yokohama and realized that it was necessary to use English in the future, there has always been attitude of reaction to the first shock. This can go three ways: • confused discomfort or panic; • deal with it – usually dealing with English but keeping Japanese cultural integrity; • reaction against English However attitudes to English in Japan are defined, one characteristic is noticeable: attitudes to English in Japan are generated by the English. This means that if there were no English, it is likely that people would not have an attitude or even notice. In a sense this is possible, as for more than 1,000 years Japan functioned quite properly without English. Most people in Japan do not come with English inside them, say as part of their identity. If English forms part 179 English in Japan of people’s identity in Japan, most likely it is just a small part. The English which people have any attitude to is a phenomenon, like anything cultural. This means that English occurs, and then people have an attitude to it. In this sense, having to use English or having contact with it in different contexts generates people’s attitudes to it. 7b Shock Shock is not really an attitude – it is a reaction. However, shock can shape people’s future attitude to anything. For example, when I used to teach in a boys’ high school, discipline and control of the classes was a problem. Then I remembered a mad teacher I used to have at school. He walked into the class the first time, shouted and started crying, telling us that it was all our fault!!! Shock! After that we always were quietly nervous of him – which is probably what he wanted.Later when I was teaching I decided to try the same approach, without crying though. So, in the first two minutes I always found a thing to shout about and look angry. Not normal teacher-style – shock! After that – in every class – I never had a control or discipline problem again, no matter how kind or quiet I was. Have people in Japan ever had the same kindof feeling about English? 7bi English Shock! The most common attitude to English is surprise, sometimes shock, at least unforeseen inconvenience. This means that if a person suddenly has contact with English and/or suddenly has to use English, probably they are unprepared for it. Then there is maybe some panic, some discomfort and emotional response like embarrassment or irritation, all of which cause distress – or negative stress (though for some people there is happiness, delight, stimulation, which can cause eustress, - positive stress). Some negative stress probably occurred in Nagasaki when HMS Phaeton arrived in Nagasaki in 1808, and also for John Manjiro who was picked up with his friends by an American whaling ship in on the sea south of Shikoku in 1841. It still happens, often, to me. 7bii English Redressed So, dealing with English was just part of dealing with the bigger issue of intrusion and influence from outside of Japan. Yet, simple re-encoding texts from other languages into an appropriate form for consumption by Japanese people was a key way of how some people dealt with this new problem. At first, in history, this shock-panic-confusion led to short-term but commonsense steps to deal with a problem. To use the same earlier perspectives as for learning English in Japan, institutionally people in Japan decided to deal with this new language. Who dealt with it? Centralized and local government institutions, and also some local education and cultural institutions. First, the centralized government (the Tokugawa bakufu) strategically set up translation centers in 1811 in Nagasaki and Edo (Tokyo) which doubled as language training centers (but only for selected people under strict institution control). Much later the center in Tokyo became Tokyo University. However, this was the extent of cultural compromise: these were translation 180 English in Japan centers, and not just for English (French and Russian too). These centers also taught these languages, and a strictly controlled number of teachers needed to learn more two or more languages. This response shows up a common attitude for dealing with English – redress the English as something easier to take in, such as translated into Japanese. This is one reason why school English curricula, textbooks and tests focus on translation into Japanese, almost never requiring changing Japanese into English or using English to produce English texts for its own sake. People in their own lives outside of public institutions in Japan have often dealt with English (for example at work) in common sense ways available to them: for instance rushing off online or to a book store to buy CD-ROM materials or English conversation phrasebooks with all the supposedly necessary English forms conveniently translated into Japanese, send a child to an English conversation kindergarten, or a teacher who finds out that they have to teach English in English then enrolls in an English conversation school themselves. 7biii Dealing with English From the 1870s, people and government institutions started to deal with English in ways which had not been available to them before. One way was to go overseas to find out and learn about other people, other cultures, other languages, including English (this is discussed better in Chapter 3). There were government initiatives to send people overseas to learn English and to get other knowledge, skills and ideas, plus an education policy implementing English study in public schools. This double strategy has recurred a few times, in the late 19th century and later still after World War II, in both periods with the purpose of building a modern Japan. Thirty years ago there was new government policy to pay foreign-language-speaking foreigners (mostly English speakers) to flood schools and local government offices in Japan to help teach English to help deal with people from outside of Japan. This tied in with ideas of globalization and internationalization. But these concepts are not traditional Japanese ones. They are just new concepts adapted to frame and justify how and why the government deals with English. Even now (early and mid 2010s) there is government policy for teaching English for the misconstrued purpose of increasing students’ critical thinking and interactive competence, and also engagement with different perspectives and opinions – but surprisingly to teach these things from lower elementary school level! This shows a steadily entrenched institutional attitude that English is necessary, even though people can be critical and interact with each other quite well using Japanese. Many people just avoid contact with English or having to use English. Another way people deal with English is ‘Just do it!’ This expression actually is the logo for Nike sports equipment, but it expresses well what happens when people in Japan are faced with a situation when they suddenly have to use English. This may sound like people are not embarrassed, maybe 181 English in Japan shameless or are simply obliging or optimistic, and that can be true of course. 7biv Overly Focused on English Form. However, what is noticeable is people focusing on the English so much that they do NOT think about other things. For example, the context (such as what has happened just before. Eg. the person might obviously be non-Japanese but may speak some Japanese in that situation); the person they are communicating with (this can be in written media or spoken. Eg. maybe non-Japanese people who also do not normally use English, such as Germans or Koreans); what is appropriate behavior (eg. sometimes it is not even necessary to talk, such as with a supermarket cashier). Focus on the form of English does reflect some success for the institutionalized learning and top-down attitudes about English being a tool for international and intercultural communication, regardless of the situation, and a corresponding focus on known (or presumed) accurate and appropriate form so as not to upset the other person. Japanese people using English in Japan often never waver from trying to use some form or expression which they remember being taught or shown was correct, even when in the context it is not. Focused perseverance might be the best word to describe this attitude. 7bv Antipathy As well, some people antipathetic. They are against English – they just do not like it. Two common reasons: simply they cannot understand and don’t want to because it is all too difficult; and/or some people are just too caught up with or strongly identify with local Japanese culture. The first point is people who don’t normally use specifically English, or can find no clear purpose for English in their lives. For instance, in 2013 in Nagoya an elderly viewer of NHK went to court suing the broadcaster for too many katakana expressions, or foreign words mostly English as Japanese. Fair enough! There are strict Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology controls on Japanese ideographic kanji but not on phonemic katakana script, so even NHK take the easier path and take non-Japanese words and use them as Japanese. But NHK do this far less often than other broadcasters. If some people in Japan react against English (and other languages) entering Japanese, it is because all people in the end prefer what they are familiar with. In Japan that is local, Japanese things and Japanese sense. There is another, simpler attitude to English many people have. Such people tend to have less contact and very little use of English in their normal lives. Their attitude is connected to a preference for Japanese or local cultural sense, and that basically is how they prefer to see the world. In this way, if they see some romaji text, hear a word that is unfamiliar or sometimes even a joke (!), they call it ‘English’ (or for jokes, an ‘American joke’). So, for such people, English is something that is not local, it is something different, or whatever it is, it is not Japanese. English is something that needs to be translated, or better still avoided. 182 English in Japan 7bvi Embracing English On the other hand there are people who embrace English – they like it, it gives some aesthetic satisfaction, it is cosmopolitan or ‘cool’, an intellectual angle including people who like to do tests like TOEFL, TOEIC or the ‘Eiken’ in Japan. Embracers of English include people who answer on questionnaires that they enjoy studying English. Some of these people may not really like to study English and may not really like to use it, but they like to be able to communicate with, deal with or just make sense of things outside of Japan authentically, without the support of Japanese language. There are others who either like to (try to) use English, for different reasons, and other people for whom English is no big deal, just an alternative way to communicate with people. Frequently, such people have extensive experience with or exposure to life outside of Japan. Also, frequently, these people are just as in tune to other languages besides English – just like the scholars at the Nagasaki and Edo translation centers two hundred years ago. One other aspect is of embracing English is that such people can come to seek an extra or a new identity beyond identifying with Japan. In this sense, people might seek to identify with the world or with, say, a culture outside of Japan like European fashion or US hiphop culture. For such people though it is less the English language than the culture that they can access by using English for which they have the stronger attitude. 7bvii English as Tool Finally there are people who need English in Japan. Perhaps these people include some people who like it, some who do not prefer English and many who are ambivalent – English is not an important part of their life, or they are just not interested. But various companies are instituting policies of using English at work, many companies require communication in English and other languages with people outside of Japan as part of business, customers and so on. As well, some people are interested in things like golf, or barbeques or information technology, which are things which have English-sourced vocabulary attached to them. For those people English can be just a way to do the thing, and not the thing itself – English as a means to an end! 7c Attitudes of People from English-Language Cultures to English in Japan Lastly there are people in Japan who come from English-language cultures, people like me. Almost all of those people are not from Japan. Also, not all of them were not born in places with a dominant English language culture – such as people from China, Russia, France or Brazil. Such people’s lives are less likely to link so completely with Japan – their interests and their sense may incorporate things from outside of Japan. Such people are usually foreigners in Japan and the English they use can include some local Japanese expressions too. Why? Because they, like their English, currently are in Japan. Also, case by case, they might need English more than local people as mode of communication. Yet one important thing about attitudes to English of people from English-language cultures – English can form part of their identity, just the same as Japanese language frequently forms part of the identity 183 English in Japan of people from Japan. Summary of Lecture 7 People’s attitudes to English in Japan are normally caused by the phenomenon of English. The best example is surprise or shock of having contact or having to use it. Attitudes are shaped by having to deal with English in different contexts, such as institutionally at school or for work. Commonly people focus on language form forsaking communicative and pragmatic aspects. Sympathy or antipathy towards English is partly tied up with a person’s identity. However English might not comprise an important part of identity, rather the thing which people can access or do by using English would generate their attitude to it. Your Attitudes to English in Japan 1 7. Bonus points if you do it) Task 18*: (*Optional task, with Task In this task you have to think about how you feel about English in Japan, and how you deal with it. (Advice: extra points if you give examples) How do you feel about English in Japan? How do you deal with English in Japan? 184 English in Japan ① ② ③ ④ Task 19: You and Your English in Japan In this task you have a chance to think and tell about the English you have contact with - ie text - and the English you use – ie. with or from other people. Please do this in relation to the present (ie your present situation) and also your future (ie where and what you will be and what you will be doing later on, after now) who and what you are/will be, and also what you are doing now/will be doing (probably) in the future (Advice: you can start using these words if you like: ‘At present I am (a) … . I am now (doing) …. & In the future I plan/hope/want to/probably will be (a) … . At that time I plan/hope/may/want to/could be (doing) … ) where you are now/will be later on, in what situations (Advice: you can do it simply, just mentioning a place or places and also occupation or the kind of situation you are/will be in) describe the English you have/will have contact with – ie what Text. (For example will you have contact with any spoken English? What about written English?) (Advice: you can do this using these words if you wish: The English/types of English I have contact with is/are/may/could be …) describe the English you use/will (probably) use. (For example, what English will you write or speak with other people?) (Advice: you can do this using these words if you wish: The English/types of English I am now using/may/could/will be using is/are/may/could be …) (Hint: of course look at things that you have done before in other Tasks in this course to get ideas about what to write) (Another hint: examples can be useful) Do it in the spaces below. You and Your Present English You and Your Future English Who or what you are / will you be Where & When 185 English in Japan What English you have contact with – ie. English Texts What English you use – ie. your own English 186 English in Japan Task 20: Terms from the Glossary In this task you have to look through the Glossary below and find four terms: the most interesting term, the easiest to understand, the most difficult to understand and the term you think you need to know the most. Write them down in the table below. Also write what page you found them on. Then, in your own words (not copying from the text), please write a couple of sentences telling how you understand this word. Look at the example, and then do the task. Terms Page numbers Example p9 ‘Text’ This is a concept. It is different from ‘a text’ which is something real and tangible. ‘Text’ is anything real that has meaning. People normally think of language texts, usually written texts. But ‘text’ is when, say, language is used they do it by making Text. It is the Text that people see or hear when they read or listen. Also when people have contact with any language, actually they have contact with language Text.. 1. Most interesting 2. Easiest 3. Most difficult 4. Term you need to know most Finally, at the end of the course, if there is one term which you would like to remember and be able to tell other people about, what is it? …………………………..…………………………………………………………. Why this term? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 187 English in Japan English in Japan - GLOSSARY an abbreviation (2h.iii) making a word shorter; different from initialization, which is using just the first letters to make an expression shorter (eg. ‘USA’), an abbreviation would be, for instance, ‘Eng’ for ‘English’. Clipping is one type of abbreviation to account for something describe and explain it (1b.iii) an acrolect (2f.vi) superior, or higher class language. A basilect is the lower status language in a creolization process SEE ALSO basilect William ADAMS (aka Miura Anjin) (1564 – 1620) (3b.i, 3b.vi) Possibly the first English person to arrive in Japan, on a Dutch ship in 1600. Eventually became close to Tokugawa Ieyasu, and took on a Japanese name, life and lifestyle, and did He may have been the first person to speak English I n Japan, but did not speak English so much after that. He helped the English East India Company ‘factory’ in Hirado a lot, even though some of those English men did not like him or trust him much. amorphized, amorphization (1c.iii, 2b.i, Figure 2, 2d.iii, 2e, 2g.ii, 2i.i. 3a, 3b.x, 3b.xi; 4a.i; 5c ) being changed or getting changed – in the context of English in Japan, Stanlaw (2004) talks about English being “remade” in Japan, being influenced by Japanese. Also, creolization and hybridization (ie. mixing, say, English with another language is similar). But if I talk about English being amorphized, I am talking only about English independent of any other language. But if I talk about amorphization of English in the context of Japan, amorphization can be seen as a language practice even as a cultural practice (giving Stanlaw’s “remade in Japan” (2004 p 209) more credence SEE ALSO writing system appropriate behavioral practices of a language culture, appropriateness, appropriacy (1c.iii) the idea that there are standards or particular ways for people in a language community to talk, write, use language or behave. Sometimes these standards are not so clear, because they are decided while people talk or write – sometimes they are made or fixed like rules, say, by somebody in the government. This is an aspect of pragmatics too an artifact (2f.iv) 188 English in Japan SEE cultural artifact an artificial text (2f.vi) a text made up by somebody, normally if they want the text to appear like a real, authentic text auxiliary language, international (1c.ii) an expression used by Morizumi (2009), who says that English can be used as a spare language for different people, because it is known by so many different people in the world. He thinks that even Japanese English can be an auxiliary language for people from Japan without changing to other types of English - when, say, English (or other languages’) items are taken from one culture of English and become used in another there is a tendency for those items to lose something of their original form a basilect, basilectalization (2f.vi) the lower class or lower status language when two or more languages meet and begin to mix as pidgins or creoles. Often lexis – words and expressions from a basilect go into the creole while syntax, grammar and so on go in from the acrolect, the higher status language. Basilectalization is the name for this linguistic process. bi-cultural (1b.i) being familiar with – understanding of and also feeling for – two cultures at the same time bi-cultural and bi-lingual (1b.i) a person’s English skills are good enough for them to be able to understand and do things in a culture and with its language in all kinds of ways, as well as in and with their own ‘first’ culture and language bi-lingual (1b.i) being able to use two different languages. A strict meaning is that a person needs to be really good at both languages. But these days normally it means being able top use one or both of the languages just a bit. (a language) channel (2g.ii, 3b.xii) a bit similar to language media but more general, but basically the way something is communicated, say, spoken or written SEE medium clarification of meaning (2f.iii) making something clear, or checking what somebody means to say a clause (2f.v) 189 English in Japan a unit of text containing: either one grammar function, one ideational or discursive function or both. Usually a clause is talked about grammatically, such as part of a sentence with a verb in it clipping (2i.i, 3c.vi Figure 11) a kind of abbreviation, cutting away unnecessary bits from words to make them shorter and easier, eg remote control becomes remocon Richard Cocks (1566-1624) (3b.i, 3b.vi) Chief of the early English East India Company ‘factory’ in Hirado from 1613 to 1623. He may have been the first person to have spoke English in Japan most of the time. code-switching (2f.iii) Basically , changing form one language to another in the middle of talking or writing a communication act (2f.v; 5a.i) doing something on order to communicate; sending or receiving a message (usually thought of a s just the sending of a message) a communication practice (2f.v, 3c.vii; 4b.ii) when a communication act becomes normal behaviour and becomes recognized by people as a way to communicate communicative functions (2f.vii) what meaning is being communicated, and even how it is being communicated a contact language (1c.ii, 2f.vi) the language variety that people from two or more different cultures use when they meet and have to communicate with each other; different from contact with a language contact with English, contact with a language, contact with a second or other language (3a, 3bvi, 3bvii, 3bviii, 3bix, 3bx, 3bxi, 3bxii) where people have English (or other language) text around them in their environment, even if they do not understand it. This idea is broader than Loveday’s (1996) idea, which is more just linguistic, and begins to connect with Selinker’s (1972) interlanguage idea– rather here contact with a language is language as part of one’s environment Contact with English includes learning it, but translation has a communicative purpose of getting or giving information or a message which makes it seem more like use of English. SEE ALSO use of English, translation (in) context (2h.ii; 5a.i; 5b.ii; 5c) in a (given) situation, normally a real situation; things such have language can only be really 190 English in Japan understood properly if there is a context. Also pragmatics can be understood properly too SEE ALSO decontextualized English a continuum (2d.ii, Figure 3, 2f.x, 2g) a line – like a 2-dimensional measure. It measures or shows how much one thing is in one direction and how much that thing is not something in the other direction, eg very hot to very cold, or Englishness to Japaneseness. continuum model (2d.ii, Figure 3, 2f.x, 2g, Figure 5; 5a.i) placing different bits of text on a continuum spread between one langague and another to see how much of one language or the other is being used core features of English (1c.ii, Table 1) an idea that there are some things in (the middle of English) – certain language forms – that people need to be able to use to communicate with English. The idea comes from Jennifrer Jenkins (2000, 2009) and Brbara Seidlhofer, who talk mainly about a group of English sounds that people need to know. Other people use the same idea to include English grammar, etc. a corruption, a corrupt (language) form when a word or part of a word becomes altered a bit ALSO SEE amorphization (5b.ii) creole, a creole language, creolization (2f.vi) a language or dialect made up of items from different languages, usually a spoken or known by a large population for many different purposes. A creole language is more complex than a pidgin language, because it normally has written forms, sometimes a literature, is used in a big range of communication functions. Sometimes creoles are not stable and can change easily, but other creoles are stable, change less quickly and begin to look like real, mature languages. English in many ways started out as a creole for a few hundred years. a cultural artifact (2f.iv, 3b.viii) a piece of something in a culture, or even a piece of a culture, to use as evidence of something. Normally artifacts are tangible – they can be touched or sensed. Text can be a cultural artifact – evidence of language used or what people have contact with in a language culture cultural behaviour (2f.v) how people act or do things, which seems normal for people from a particular culture, or which can even characterize or define the culture. Cultural behaviour can include communication practices. 191 English in Japan de facto (1b.ii) seeming like something but not exactly the same, maybe just approximately like it; sometimes good enough to be instead of something decontextualized English, decontextualized language (3b.x) language text (word, phrase or sentence) that has no context – a person cannot understand exactly what it means except in a general way or in more than one way if the person thinks of more than one possible context; a language text without clear pragmatics; most words and sentences in a dictionary are decontenxtualized language because they have no special time or place or person saying or writing them and no special purpose declarative functions (2f.vi) a type of modality, like a normal common verb form, eg. English tends to be Subject+Verb+Object, (S+V+O) and Japanese tends to be S+O+V without lots of modal verbs; for instance if I tell you about something deixis (2f.vii) a part of pragmatics, also called ‘reference’; basically knowing speakers or writes and readers knowing what is talked about in and outside of the communication message SEE ALSO endophoric deixis and exophoric deixis a dichotomy (1b.i) 2 different things, phenomena ideas or whatever, that exist but are different, and which may do something at the same time Discourse, discursive (2b.ii, 2f.iii, 2f.viii) how language is used and also what is communicated; Discourse-with-a-capital-D is the linguistic concept of discourse, and it is similar to ideas and language (which is just a way that ideas, information and feelings are communicated, and ideaology – actually Discourse is a very hard thing to explain because it is very, very theoretical a discourse (Preface, 3b.viii) an idea, a meaning, a message; something which can be communicated as language or as something else and be encoded or recorded as text – as text it can be seen, heard, taken in and understood disparate English (2c, 2d.i, 2d.ii, Figure 2, 3b.i, 3c.i) English only; a type of English which is quite distinct or separate from other types of English in a local language culture, such as different idiom or pronunciation. For example, the English in Japan which is separate from and not connected to any Japanese (language) in Japan 192 English in Japan ellipsis, elipsed (2f.iii) leaving out something in a sentence or in a language pattern. Elipsis often happens when, say two people know what each other is talking about and therefore do not need to keep repeating a word to encounter (1b.iii) to meet or to ‘bump into’ somebody or something endophoric deixis (2f.vii) referring or talking about something in or outside of a conversation or communication which is mentioned in the conversation or communication SEE ALSO deixis English as a Japanese language (0.0 Introduction, 1c.ii, Table 2) a language of and in the culture of Japan (Honna 2008), a language of Japan, a language in Japan English as an Asian language (1c.ii, Table 2) English in Asia having its own features different from other Englishes in other parts of the world; also English being a lingua franca in Asia English as lingua franca (ELF) (1cii, 3b.iv) English as a contact language; or English as a common language in an English language community – some people think about ELF as the common language for the world. English core (1c.ii) SEE core features of English English in Japan (1b.iii, 2d.i, 2f.x, 2h.iii, 3b.vi) Basically any English people have Contact with in Japan which is produced or Used in Japan. This includes disparate English as well as Japanese English and might even include some Japanese depending on how much English neologism is mixed with it an English language community a group of people who use English language or a variety of English; the people in an English language culture English repertoire SEE repertoire (2f.iii) 193 English in Japan Englishness (1c.iii, 2d.ii, 2d.v, 2e, 2h.i) having features of English (language); being (of) English (language) ethnicity (2f.ii) somebody’s race background, sometimes connected to culture or where a person comes from, but generally a person’s family or even biological background exophoric deixis (2f.vii) referring or talking about something outside of a conversation or communication which is not mentioned - some people call it assumed knowledge SEE ALSO deixis first language (2f.viii, 2f.x) the language of a person’s main language community or language culture, usually the language used in the place where they grow up. It is perhaps the most important source of language knowledge for most people. Often called ‘L1’ (language) form (2g.ii) how language appears as text, what it looks like as writing or how it sounds. Linguistically, language form includes lexis, syntax (some people also consider morphology such as the beginnings and endings or words to change meaning) and phonology (sounds etc.) formulaic utterances (2f.viii) for example formulaic English is really common expressions which people use often or lightly –‘thank you’ or ‘OK’ being good examples. Often people may know a little bit of formulaic language forms – for instance I can say ‘Good bye’ in English, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Italian, but I do not know any more than that gairaigo SEE neologism (2d.iv) genre, a genre (2b.ii, 2g.ii) types of written or spoken language – similar to ‘text types’. Also how language is used in a particular way, for particular purposes or in particular contexts SEE ALSO style graphic, graphic text (2f.iv; 4b.ii) picture or design; how something is seen or how it appears, for example its image, its proportional size or is spacing and lay out. A text in which the design, image or artistic points are important can be called a graphic text. 194 English in Japan grammar SEE syntax (2f.viii; 4b.ii) grammar rules (2f.viii) rules or conventions for organizing language, usually under nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Two issues are: right and wrong grammar, and also who decides the grammar rules anyway SEE syntax identity (3b.xi) basically how a person sees themselves, what, who they are, where they come from, and sometimes what they think or feel they are not; similarly, another person’s identity can be how one person sees that other person – who, what they are, where from, etc. Identity can have a connection with a culture or a community, for example somebody feeling or thinking that they come from a particular culture or community institutionalized variety (of English), English in Japan as (1b.i) a view of English in Japan following an American native speaker model. This idea was suggested firt by Stanlaw (2004), but seems similar to Honna’s (2008) idea of a present-day Unrealistic ELT model. It is different from Stanlaw’s other type, an Internalized variety of English in Japan interlanguage (3a) a very ‘linguistics’ idea about what is happening in people’s brains when they are dealing with a new language and also dealing with their L1, based upon Chomskian notion of a Language Acquisition Device in people’s brains, and the word, interlanguage, given by Selinker (1972) to cover the processing and any mixing of languages. Some people think interlanguage happens outside when people are actually speaking using two or more languages, but words like mixing or codeswitching are simpler and better because they are just describing what is taking place, or my idea about amorphization which tends to be more about the text and the language culture and not what is happening in people’s brains internalized variety (of English), English in Japan as (1b.i, 2b.i) Also called a, ‘Internalized system’ (Kirkpatrick (2008). English that people in Japan have in their head, from learning in school or other contact with English. This model has its own form, perhaps different from American or other varieties of English in the world. This idea is is similar to Honna’s (2008) Modified, Realistic model. It is different form Stanlaw’s other type, an Institutionalized variety of English in Japan international auxiliary language (1c.ii) SEE auxiliary language, international 195 English in Japan Japanese English (1c, 1c.ii) A variety of English originating from the language culture in Japan, naturally showing strong influence of Japanese language forms; Morzumi (2009) attempts to show how a Japanese variety of English can exist. Japanese English is also the title of a book by James Stanlaw (2004) a Japanese language community (1b.iii) a group of people who use Japanese language; the people in a Japanese language culture Japaneseness (2d.i) having features of Japanese (language) or Japanese culture; being (of) Japanese (language) or Japanese culture Japanization (1c, 2h.ii) How Japanese language culture affects English, or some people would say how Japanese people re-make English (eg, Stanlaw (2004 p 291) calls it “English remade in Japan” Japlish (2f.i, 2f.ii, 2f.iii, 2f.viii, 2f.ix, 2h.iii) a mix of Japanese and English together; also called things like Janglish and Japanized English kana scripts (3bxi, 4a.i) phonemic scripts used to write sounds of words – normally like a consonant and vowel together, but there are vowel-type sounds also. There are two types, hiragana (for more Japanese language words) and katakana for using other specific types of words. The scripts are based on older ideographic Chinese kanji characters which had had similar pronunciations to older Japanese words over 1,000 years ago katakana (3b.xi, 3c.vi; 4a.i; 4a.ii; 4b.i) one of the two Japanese phonemic scripts, used mostly for specific purposes like writing neologistic (gairaigo or) loanwords (the other phonemic kana script, hiragana, is normally used for writing text rooted in Japanese when ideographc kanji characters are not used) SEE ALSO phonology katakana English (4b.iii) basically is pronouncing English (and other languages) as if it was Japanese Language (Preface) a medium for of communicating ideas, information feeling or intention; language is usually ordered by grammar, is normally produced as written or spoken text but in other ways too like signs or pictures; also, a part of a culture which appears as cultural artifact, most commonly apparent and 196 English in Japan observable as Text a language (Preface) an encoded medium for communicating discourses, information or feelings, in a culture among recognized and use d by people – the community – sharing that culture. Languages can cover a wide range of communicative functions, and usually have distinct forms. Dialects and creoles are usually similar to particular languages or mixes of different languages but not different enough or developed enough to become separate languages a language community (1b.iii, 1c.i) a group of people who use a particular language or language variety; similar to a speech community or a discourse community a language culture (1c.i, 2i.i, 3b.xi, 3b.xii) how language is in a particular culture; this includes, how people use language, what language (or languages there are). A language culture is reflected in texts from that language culture a language practice (2i.i) when a way to use language becomes normal behaviour and becomes recognized by people, similar to a communication practice using language lexical, lexis (0.1 Outline, 1c.iii, 4b.ii) words, vocabulary, idiom, expressions etc in a language a literacy event (4b.ii) an event when someone uses literacy skill (or literacy practice) , such as reading something or writing something, usually in a particular context; Based on a concept explained in Barton (1994) SEE ALSO communication practice a loan-word SEE neologism ‘(2d.iv; 5c,i) (a language) medium (2g.ii, 3b.xii) A bit similar to a language channel, but more specific – similar to how people talk about ‘the mass media’; spoken media could include telephone or person to person, and written media could include online or writing on paper. A mixed media may be, say, chat online which is a often a spoken style (as if people are talking) but it is written with a keyboard a milieu (0.0 Introduction, 3b.viii) a culture or an environment; normally thought of as a person’s social or cultural environment 197 English in Japan or surroundings morphological, morphology (1c.iii; 5c.i) how a word stem (normally at the start or end) changes to change the grammar function or meaning native speakers (2f.v) users of a language who come from the community of that language, were brought up in the culture of that language and who may share some ethnic or other characteristics of people from the same community nativization (5aii) making words on one’s language in an original way a neologism (2d.iv, 3c.vi) a word or expression taken from one language and used in another language; more commonly called ‘loan-word’; in Japanese called 外来語 がいらいご gairaigo official and institutionalized English (1b.ii) English or varieties of English forms which a government or other institution (ie company, school) prefers or tells people they need to know or use. Sometimes the official language orthography (4c.i) SEE spelling system philology, philological (5c.iv) the development of meanings in a word or an expression; studying the development of meaning and use of different words and expressions in a language, how meaning and use of the word or expression has changed over time. Similar to etymology, which is looking for the sources of words and expressions phonemics SEE phonology phonological, phonology (1c.iii) Spoken form of a language, such as pronunciation. Phonemics – the sounds in a language – and phonetics – making sounds with a persons voice, normally including language sounds – are aspects of phonology pidgin, pidginized language (2f.iii, 2f.vi) a type of language with not many so many words or expressions in it, normally a mix of two or more languages used by people from different language cultures when they do not know 198 English in Japan each other’s languages. Pidgin-type language is used usually just for a small range of communication functions. Pidginization is the linguistic process of how such a language is made polymodel (1c.ii) there is more than one model of to use to understand something properly. Morizumi (2009) uses this word to recommend people try to understand English (in Japan or in the world) in more than one way in order to understand properly what English is pragmatic awareness (2f.ix) how much people know or can sense about how language is used – if people have high pragmatic awareness, they can probably understand a lot more nuances and things communicated non-verbally than people with low pragmatic awareness. People with higher pragmatic awareness are better at picking up pragmatic cues than people with low pragmatic awareness. To an extent, pragmatic awareness can change from one language (variety) to another pragmatic cues (2f.vii) something in communication or in a message that gives a signal to a reader or to a speaker that is important in the meaning or tone in the message. Cues can be in the sound of a voice, changing topic, mentioning something, how the message is communicated, or even starting or ending something in the message pragmatics (2f.iii) how language is used; when people talk about it, it includes things like context, politeness and face, modality, reference proximity (2g.ii) how close to or how far from something reference SEE deixis (2f.vii; 5b.i) a repertoire (2f.iii, 2f.viii) the various things a person knows or can use in a language; eg English repertoire is what English a person knows and can use – a bit different from just knowing English words and grammar redundant (2f.iv) extra and unnecessary. Redundant language is like when somebody says something but uses extra words with the same meaning which are not really necessary 199 English in Japan romaji, roman script (2f.iv, 3b.xi, 4a.i, 4a.ii) the kind of writing using the alphabet, such as in English other European and world languages, which comes originally from the Romans 2 000 years ago who spoke Latin the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (2f.vii) that the way a person uses their language (eg the order of ideas and types of things they say, etc.) reflects the distinctive way people in their culture think. This idea was put forward in the 20th century by two American psychology specialists, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf semantic, semantics (2b.ii, 2f.iv; 5b.i, 5c.iv) meaning; a part of linguistics connected to the meaning of something semiotic, semiotics (2f.iv) symbols, the meaning in symbols, symbolism of something like in advertising or religion spelling, spelling system (4c.i) a standard way to write things in a language to match the phonetics or even the semantics or lexis, represented as written text. Orthography us the linguistics term. (language) style (2g.ii) style is linked to appropriateness (suitable and unsuitable ways to use language) and it is linked to genre (how or what way language is used for a particular purpose or in a particular context). Often people describe language style in a text as seeming like a language used in some other way, eg she writes her report in a spoken style. Also, there is the issue of who decides when a style or what style is appropriate a syllable (4b.iii) an individual sound, usually with an aspiration (voiced). Syllables in Japanese are different because the basic phonemic units are different – saying the sounds of the alphabet (eg /ae/./b/,/k/,/d/, etc.) or kana syllabary (eg. /ha/,/hi/,/hu/,/he/,/ho/) in either language gives the best illustration syntax, syntactic (1c.iii, 2f.vi, 2f.viii, 2f.x) (about) grammar or word order, basically organization of meaning in a communication SEE ALSO grammar rules a taboo (5a.i) something that is forbidden in a culture; culturally embedded phenomena or discourses which have strong negative or other semiotic significance (eg. Often relating to sex, religion, senisitivity repulsion, stereotyped (bad) behaviour, images, etc.) Text (with a capital ‘T’) (Preface; 3b.xii; 4b.ii) 200 English in Japan the concept or generic linguistic or discursive phenomenon of text as a tangible record of language a text (with a small ‘t’) (Preface, 2f.ii, 3a; 3b.viii, 3b.xii) the tangible quantifiable object, a record of language (like a book or email) or other type of discourse (like an audio recording, picture or or a movie). ALSO SEE an artificial text Three Circles of English model of World Englishes (1a.iii) A convenient model for placing different varieties of English in zones closer to or more distant from the center circle, where so-called native varieties lie. It was proposed first by Braj Khachru, a linguist originally from India now working in the US, in 1994. Though this model is a bit dated, and does not really fit in with ideas of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in the world, it is still used because it is convenient. By the way, Japanese English is said to lie in the outer-most ‘Extending circle’ a topic, topicality (2g.ii) very simply what people are talking or writing about; also sometimes called the subject (of conversation) translation (3c.i, 3c.ii,3c.iii, 3c.vi, 3c.vii re-encoding (writing or saying) meaning in text of one language as text of another language. With a communicative purpose, this is use of those languages, though this is not an orthodox understanding of the expression, ‘use of English’. a typology (1b.ii) a set of types; a set of ways to call different types of something use of English, English used (3b.vi, 3b.xii, 3c, ) to use English of course means to make meaningful texts of English to communicate that meaning to others., such as by writing or speaking. Using English also includes reading or listening to English texts with a purpose, such as to get information contained in the text, Using English to take in meaning encoded in English, which implies understanding of the language - therefore translation should be considered as use of English. On the other hand, learning English such as in school does not have a communication purpose, so I think ‘learning English’ is a bit more like just contact with English. Yet, if learning English is just contact with English, then teaching English certainly is use of English (even if grammar-translation methods are used. But use of English can also include when English items – words or expressions – become used mixed with Japanese or as Japanese – amorphized English. SEE ALSO amorphized English, translation wasei eigo (2dii)’ 201 English in Japan 和 製 (?) 英 語 わ せ い え い ご a Japanese language term for English – usually words, sometimes expressions – that are used in Japan, either with a different pronunciation, altered meaning, sometimes different grammar, or all of these. Normally they are written in katakana script. Often wasei eigo is very amorphised English, so much so that it has become identified as normal Japanese a world language (1c.i, Table 2) any language which is used both in its base culture or language (ie ‘speech’) community, and also in the world outside of it. But sometimes there can be no real base language community (eg. with Esperanto) or there can be more than one base language community (such as with English) a writing system (4a;4a1) a way to write things – a way to present meaning in a linear way as written text. 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(eds) Japanese Applied Linguistics: discourse and social perspectives. London: Continuum. www.zoominfo.com/p/Mamoru-Morizumi/419174866 (Retrieved 16 December 2016) Yang, J. (2013) On the Process of Wasei-Eigo Becoming Japanese: the Classification of the Structures of Wasei-Eigo and the Transformation of Parts of Speech, Saga Women’s Junior College Bulletin Vol.47, pp75-86 Yuasa, S. (2009) ‘Mitsubishi unveils $47,000 electric car’, Daily Yomiuri Online June 5 2009 (viewed on 8 June 2009 at http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_MITSUBISHI_ELECTRIC_CAR_ASO L-?SITE=YOMIURI&SECTION=HOSTED_ASIA&TEMPLATE=ap_national.html) Appendix Ideas for Future Lectures 206