If I may beg the moderator's indulgence to make a final point.
So far this debate has been conducted in terms of "racism". Let me
offer another perspective.
Foreigners in Japan are surrounded by, and saturated in, "katakana
English" (Katakana is a Japanese syllabery for rendering foreign
words, among other things.)
When I use an English word as part of a Japanese conversation -
"Lord" for example - I often "katakana-ize" it - to increase
comprehensibility for my listener. In this case it would involve
exchanging the first "L" for an "r".
That isn't condescension, it is simply what you have to do to loan
words to make them "Japanese". I do it a 1000 times a day - it is
part of speaking the language. It is, in addition, good manners to
create the best communication environment one can with one's
interlocutor.
I frequently drop Katakana English into English conversations with
both Japanese and Foreigners, and they with me. It has become almost
a second language.
I am sorry that my posting has caused all this fuss, but will
continue occasionally to drop into katakana English.
Nick
On 17 Oct 2005, at 05:55, Mika Tuupola wrote:
> I hope they will be the last. Thank you.
Received on Mon Oct 17 06:28:41 2005