Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 10:43:53 -0400 From: Grant Barrett Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Japo=F1ol?= 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 Japoqol words). Between the computer's 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. "Japoqol": mezcla de japonis y espaqol EFETokio Miles de inmigrantes latinoamericanos residentes en este pams han acuqado el 'japoqol", un hmbrido entre el japonis y espaqol que, sin llegar a la complejidad del "spanglish" en Estados Unidos, suple las necesidades de comunicacisn con un idioma difmcil y arduo como el japonis. Con la bonanza econsmica de los aqos ochenta miles de descendientes de japoneses nacidos en pamses como Perz, Argentina, Bolivia o Paraguay, deshacen los pasos de sus padres y abuelos y regresan al archipiilago para convertirse en "dekasegui", sustantivo que significa "emigrante" y que en 'japoqol" se pluralizs en "dekaseguis" sin que los acadimicos japoneses de la lengua se enteraran. "International Press", un semanario local en espaqol que informa de la actualidad japonesa y del mundo a los "dekaseguis" latinoamericanos, incluye en su pagina de pasatiempos el "dekagrama", un crucigrama cuya solucisn acertada se premia con tarjetas telefsnicas prepagadas, que en Japsn se llaman"kaddo", adaptacisn de la palabra inglesa "card", tarjeta. Los hijos de japoneses que nacen en otro pams,como el presidente peruano Alberto Fujimori, son llamados "ni-sei", segunda generacisn, mientras que su hija, Keiko Soifa, serma "san-sei", tercera generacisn. Los hispanohablantes en Japsn aplican estos numerales como si fueran palabras de nuestro idioma y para catalogar a un descendiente de origen nipsn dudoso, que puede haber recurrido a documentos falsificados o incluso a la cirugma estitica para orientalizar sus facciones, inventaron el despectivo 'falsei". Un popular cantante peruano de ascendencia japonesa, Alberto Shiroma, tituls una de sus canciones "Gambateando", tmpico caso de morfologma 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 archipiilago. La inclinacisn de los latinoamericanos a modificar nombres propios y sustantivos con diminutivos encuentra en el japonis un gran au4liaren el sufijo "chan" qze, aqadido al final de cualquier palabra, la enternece y aumenta sus posibilidades en "japoqol". Por obra de este sufijo mas de una "okaa-chan" (madrecita o mamacita) ha dejado de llamar a sus niqos 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 japonis), "shachs" (jefe) y "shigoto" (trabajo). La gran dificultad para aprender los ideogramas hace que muchss hispanohablantes rechacen la ardua tarea que supone el aprendizaje del japonis en su forma escrita mientras que el parecido fonitico entre los dos idiomas facilita la rapida memorizacion de ciertas palabras. Azn asm, ningzn diccionario auxiliara al hipanohablante reciin llegado cuando oiga a un compatriota decir a su esposa: "okaachan" pristame una 'kaddo" para llamar a la "guemba" y decirle al "shachs" que hoy no puedo ir al "shigoto", pero que maqana seguro "gambateo ". "Japoqol": Mixture of Japanese and Spanish EFE-Tokyo Thousands of resident Latin American immigrants in this country have coined "japoqol", 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 "japoqol" 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 Japoqol. 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), "shachs" (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 "shachs" that today I can not go to the "shigoto", but that tomorrow surely "gambateo".