Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 15:13:47 -0400
From: Grant Barrett gbarrett[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JERRYNET.COM
Subject: Japo|ol
[ I see that the enyes and the accents didn't make it through. I've changed a couple settings on my
mail server, so I hope you don't mind if I try it one more time.]
I ran across an article in El Diario, the New York metropolitan area Spanish language daily, that
covers the transfer of Spanish words into Japanese. I thought this might be interesting for those of
you looking into Spanglish. The article is below for your edification in Spanish and English.
I ran it through optical character recognition and used a computer translator into English, so
there will be errors (although I took care with the specific Japo|ol words). Between the computers
Spanish to English translation and my own, I think we have the sense of the article, and possibly
the facts. Also, be aware that your system or mail reader may not interpret the accents correctly,
so you might see little squares or other unlikely characters.
"Japo|ol": mezcla de japones y espa|ol
EFETokio
Miles de inmigrantes latinoamericanos residentes en este pais han acu|ado el 'japo|ol", un hibrido
entre el japones y espa|ol que, sin llegar a la complejidad del "spanglish" en Estados Unidos, suple
las necesidades de comunicacion con un idioma dificil y arduo como el japones.
Con la bonanza economica de los a|os ochenta miles de descendientes de japoneses nacidos en
paises como Peru, Argentina, Bolivia o Paraguay, deshacen los pasos de sus padres y abuelos y
regresan al archipielago para convertirse en "dekasegui", sustantivo que significa "emigrante" y
que en 'japo|ol" se pluralizo en "dekaseguis" sin que los academicos japoneses de la lengua se
enteraran.
"International Press", un semanario local en espa|ol que informa de la actualidad japonesa y del
mundo a los "dekaseguis" latinoamericanos, incluye en su pagina de pasatiempos el "dekagrama",
un crucigrama cuya solucion acertada se premia con tarjetas telefonicas prepagadas, que en Japon
se llaman"kaddo", adaptacion de la palabra inglesa "card", tarjeta.
Los hijos de japoneses que nacen en otro pais,como el presidente peruano Alberto Fujimori, son
llamados "ni-sei", segunda generacion, mientras que su hija, Keiko Soifa, seria "san-sei", tercera
generacion.
Los hispanohablantes en Japon aplican estos numerales como si fueran palabras de nuestro idioma
y para catalogar a un descendiente de origen nipon dudoso, que puede haber recurrido a
documentos falsificados o incluso a la cirugia estetica para orientalizar sus facciones, inventaron el
despectivo 'falsei".
Un popular cantante peruano de ascendencia japonesa, Alberto Shiroma, titulo una de sus
canciones "Gambateando", tipico caso de morfologia hispana aplicada a la palabra "gambaru",
(esforzarse, perseverar), uno de los verbos que mas se ve obligado a conjugar todo
el que habita en este archipielago.
La inclinacion de los latinoamericanos a modificar nombres propios y sustantivos con diminutivos
encuentra en el japones un gran au4liaren el sufijo "chan que, a|adido al final de cualquier palabra,
la enternece y aumenta sus posibilidades en japo|ol.
Por obra de este sufijo mas de una "okaa-chan" (madrecita o mamacita) ha dejado de llamar a sus
ni|os Pablito o Fernandito para decirles "Pablo-chan" o "Femando-chan". El vocabulario de
supervivencia del "dekasegui" incluye palabras japonesas como "guemba" (lugar de trabajo),
"nihongo" (el idioma japones), "shacho" (jefe) y "shigoto" (trabajo).
La gran dificultad para aprender los ideogramas hace que muchos hispanohablantes rechacen la
ardua tarea que supone el aprendizaje del japones en su forma escrita mientras que el parecido
fonetico entre los dos idiomas facilita la rapida memorizacion de ciertas palabras.
Aun asi, ningun diccionario auxiliara al hipanohablante recien llegado cuando oiga a un
compatriota decir a su esposa: "okaachan" prestame una 'kaddo" para llamar a la "guemba" y
decirle al "shacho" que hoy no puedo ir al "shigoto", pero que ma|ana seguro "gambateo ".
"Japo|ol": Mixture of Japanese and Spanish
EFE-Tokyo
Thousands of resident Latin American immigrants in this country have coined "japo|ol", a hybrid
of Japanese and Spanish that, without reaching the complexity of "Spanglish" in United States,
supplies the mecessary communication with an arduous and difficult language of Japanese.
With the economic prosperity of the Eighties, thousands of Japanese descendants born in
countries such as Peru, Argentina, Bolivia or Paraguay, retrace the steps of their parents and
grandparents and return to the archipelago to be converted into "dekasegui", basically meaning
"migratory" and that in "japo|ol" is pluralized as "dekaseguis"without the assistance of Japanese
academics.
"International Press", a weekly local in Spanish covering Japonese and world news for the
"dekaseguis" Latin American, includes in its pastimes page the" dekagrama ", a crucigram whose
winners are rewarded with telephone cards, that in Japan are called" kaddo ", adaptation of the
English word "card."
The Japanese children born in another country, such as Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, are
called " ni-sei ", second generation, while his daughter, Keiko Soifa, would be "san-sei ", third
generation.
The Spanish-speaking in Japan apply these numerals as if they are Spanish words and to catalogue
descendants of doubtful Japanese origin that may have resorted to counterfeit documents or even
to the plastic surgery for orientalizar [Orientalizing, I would guess, an interesting coinageGAB]
their features, invented the contemptuous 'falsei".
A popular Peruvian singer of Japanese ancestry, Alberto Shiroma, titled one of his songs
"Gambateando", a typical case of Hispanic morphology applied to the word "gambaru", (to be
strengthened, to persevere), a verb that is often conjugated by the ihabitants of this archipelago.
The tendency of Latin Americans to modify proper nouns and names with diminutives finds the
Japanese suffix "chan" beneficial. Its addition at the end of any word softens it and increases its
possibilities in Japo|ol.
By means of this suffix we get "okaa-chan" (madrecita or mamacita) calling to her children Pablito
or Fernandito instead saying "Pablo-chan" or" Fernando-chan". The surviving vocabulary of the
"dekasegui" includes Japanese words such as "guemba" (place of work), "nihongo" (the Japanese
language), "shacho" (chief) and" shigoto" (work).
The great difficulty in learning the ideograms causes that many Spanish-speakers to reject that
arduous task of learning Japanese in its written form, while the similar phonetics among the two
languages facilitates the rapid memorization of certain words.
Even so, no auxiliary dictionary to the recently-arrived Spanish-speakers when hears to a
compatriot to say to his wife: "okaachan" give me a "kaddo" to call to the "guemba "and to say to
him "shacho" that today I can not go to the "shigoto", but that tomorrow surely "gambateo".