What is “Japanglish” or “Japaglish”?
If you are learning Japanese, you might have heard or seen a few odd words, which are very different from original words in English. These are used by Japanese people, and most of them think it is natural English.
However, it isn’t actually. These words are often called “Japanglish”.
Therefore, I gathered such words in this article. If you learn them in here, you could avoid misunderstanding when you talk with Japanese people.
10 Japanglish words we often use
1. ノートパソコン
- Hiragana
のーとぱそこん - Romaji
Nooto pasokon - Meaning
It means “laptop.” ノート means ”notebook”, and パソコン means “personal computer”. We call it like this because a laptop is as thin as a notebook. Besides, we also use ノーパソ(Noopaso) in a casual way. It is a short form of ノートパソコン.
2. ズボン
- Hiragana
ずぼん - Romaji
Zubon - Meaning
It means “pants” or ”trousers”. This ズボン(Zubon) originally comes from “Jubon” which is French word, and means “women’s underwear”.
3. クレーム
- Hiragana
くれーむ - Romaji
Kureemu - Meaning
クレーム comes from English word “claim”. However, we usually use this word as “complaint”.
4. フライドポテト
- Hiragana
ふらいどぽてと - Romaji
Furaido Poteto - Meaning
It is the word for “french fries”. It comes from “fried potatoes” in a literal way, but this is used by Japanese only.
5. マンション
- Hiragana
まんしょん - Romaji
Manshon - Meaning
Although It comes from ”mansion”, we usually use this word as ”large apartment” or ”condominium”.
6. シュークリーム
- Hiragana
しゅーくりーむ - Romaji
Shuukuriimu - Meaning
シュークリーム means “cream puff”. This word originally comes from French word “Chou à la crème”( which means “creamed cabbage”).
7. ジェットコースター
- Hiragana
じぇっとこーすたー - Romaji
Jetto koosutaa - Meaning
It means “roller coaster”. ジェット refers to “jet”. It was named after a jet plane when it came into Japan.
8. タバコ
- Hiragana
たばこ - Romaji
Tabako - Meaning
It means “cigarette“, and comes from “Tabacco”. This is originally introduced from the Portuguese word “Tabaco”.
9. トイレ
- Hiragana
といれ - Romaji
Toire - Meaning
It means “restroom”, and comes from “toilet”.
By the way, If you use this word in formal situation, you may want to say お手洗い(Otearai) which is more polite than トイレ.
10. ビーチサンダル
- Hiragana
びーちさんだる - Romaji
Biichi sandaru - Meaning
It means “beach sandals” as known as “flip-flops”. Almost Japanese people probably don’t know this “flip-flops”, so it would be better for you to remember this word.
Ryo
If you have any questions, please let me know! You can ask me anything in the comment form.
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