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カテゴリーのアイコン Life in Japan
New Japanese Words are Being Invented!
Apr 12, 2024
3 min read
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It seems quite true that a new Japanese language is being created. You can see it in the English language. For example, "Google," one of the most well-known words in the world, didn't exist until a company called Alphabet Inc. became the top search engine company today. Nowadays, you often hear the word "googling" in Japan, and it is even in English dictionaries.

There is also the word "rizz" (flirting), which is slang and is used even among people whose first language is not English.

New Japanese Words

Words change all the time. Let me introduce you a report. This report features Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, and it focuses not only on new words being created, but also on the way we use the Japanese language and how we perceive its meaning.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs conducted a poll of people 16 years of age and older throughout Japan. The results showed that out of approximately 1,600 people, more than 50% used the words 推し (oshi, being a fan of), 盛る (moru, _to fill up) and 引く (hiku_, to pull) in their new meaning, rather than their old meaning.

Examples:

「このアイドルかっこいいでしょ。彼がわたしの推しなの」 Don't you think this idol is cool? He's my favorite (≒推し).

「この写真かなり盛れている気がするけど、どう思う?」 I think this picture is amazingly well taken(≒盛れている), what do you think?

「そんな発言をするなんてあなたの上司は酷いと思う。正直、引いてしまった」 I think your boss is terrible for making such a statement. Frankly, it turns me off.(≒引いてしまった).

More than 6,000 people were surveyed, and 80% said they did not mind or were fine with the use of these new expressions.

Japanese Words with Different Nuances

On the other hand, the expression "どうしようもなくなった" (doushiyou mo nakunatta), which has the basic meaning "I'm losing," is used by only 30% of the respondents.

Also, there is an idiom "涼しい顔をする," which actually means "acting as if it is none of your business, even though it concerns you”. But 60% of people use it to mean "putting on a cool face" or "being calm”.

Abbreviations

Japanese people sometimes speak without saying the subject, but this is not strange among Japanese speakers.

Perhaps Japanese people are good at reading between the lines. Because of their national character, they use many abbreviations.

For example

あけましておめでとう → あけおめ

アメリカンフットボール → アメフト

インフラストラクチャー → インフラ

Maybe Japanese people are always thinking about how to pack a lot of information into a short sentence. The Japanese, who always seem to be in a hurry, probably want to cut down their written expressions to shorter and shorter sentences.

▼You can find a lot of abbreviations on this site!

Emergence of New Japanese Phrases

In this way, the Japanese language is constantly creating new expressions as a language. It is also changing its reading of foreign words to make them easier to pronounce, and absorbing and changing as it goes.

However, of course, it is not only new expressions that are valued, but also the presence of someone who speaks beautifully in traditional Japanese gives a sense of elegance and dignity. It might be easier to understand if you think that there is Japanese like British English.

Whatever the case may be, new Japanese words will continue to increase. People like new things.

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