Fear of Japanese's Anglicization - Bunfire・Japanese discussion

Hello!

Following are a few unfiltered thoughts I had that I would like to share and gather opinion from.
Please tell me what you think of it, if you think you have any solutions or anything you feel would be good to add to the conversation, I’d be glad if you did! :slight_smile:

Warning: Some passages may be seen as too raw or radical. Please note I do not mean any harm or anything derogatory from these. This is purely for discussion, and to communicate, share and expose my fears to possibly work on them. Feel free to skip if it’s not up your alley!


Reasons for fear of the Anglicization of Japanese:

I am a “first/second generation” immigrant in Quebec, and thus an outsider with
and outside perspective of its culture and traditions.
I have seen firsthand the damages Anglicization can do to a language and culture
through living in Quebec (and most especially in Montreal, a city that is
considered a melting pot of diversity and cultures by its own people) and with
knowledge of the French language mannerisms used in France too.

I find that cultural mixing was left unchecked for far too long in Quebec,
causing what seems at the moment like irreparable damages to Quebec culture.
Quebec’s culture and traditions were also already at risk due to their weak
presence from an outsider’s standpoint, and from already being at the mercy of
the surrounding regions (the rest of Canada (English) and the neighboring United
States of America (English)).

In any form of [language]-ization, I believe that the ‘loan receiver’ language
slowly but surely becomes the ‘loaned from’ language.
In more clear terms, I believe that the Japanese language is slowly but surely
becoming the English language.
Akin to how the French from France is slowly replacing already existing French
words for certain elements with English ones (i.e. parking vs stationnement).

In more radical terms and extreme perspective, I believe this can be related to
the sayings and concepts of ‘if everybody is different, then no one is’.
It would be like saying if everyone would speak English, then we would all be
the same, which may be desirable by some in a (in my opinion) idealistic world.
But I believe that this is very dangerous for each and everyone’s cultures.

In assimilation there is always one side that loses, one that dies out, one that
gets left behind, left to history (if someone bothered or had the opportunity
and foresight to record it).

It would lead to some traditions being left behind and ‘dying out’.
I believe in difference is in part where creativity fosters.
When different people collaborate, great things can happen.
But if everyone is the same, what would happen?
Perhaps some people would like to see that happen.
I am proud and content to say that I do not share this opinion.

I believe the Japanese are good at taking elements from others’ cultures and
traditions and adapting it to the Japanese frame of mind and people.
Among examples, those that come mind first to me are aspects like the food
culture, technology and engineering (aside from IT) and music.

The concept of going to study in another country to bring back and adapt the
teachings learned from there to one’s own country is not one that is present in
that many countries I feel. And I am glad that it seems to be part of Japanese
culture (or was?).

I consider Anglicization (or any form of [insert language]-ization) a form of
cultural assimilation in the long-term.
Cultural assimilation of Japan by the West or the ‘English’ world is something I
would absolutely, definitely and without any kind of doubt like to avoid as much
as possible.
My love of Japan – of its art and culture, of its history and traditions, of
its philosophy and people – only furthers this sentiment.

Thanks for reading!

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I feel the same thing living in a small country with not much ability to resist a large English speaking world’s influence on how we all speak. Kids and my generation included play English video games from a young age because they aren’t released in our language, our internet is very small so almost everyone uses English websites and communities. The anglicisation of my own language has rapidly sped up and it is uncomfortable, but there is not much I can do about it other than putting in an effort to use the best language I can and holding myself accountable to not default to English terms or expressions.

Japan’s language is fortunately not my burden to bear, It’s not my country, their fate is not for me to decide, but I also wouldn’t worry too much about their culture disappearing any time soon. It’s a very large population, they are great at keeping traditions alive, there is an incredible amount of entertainment media released, and they still study classic literature. It will at least have been well preserved for future generations with timeless classics.

Things come and go, and we’ll be dead and hopefully not there to witness all of it. That’s about the best solace I can give.

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And this why I think Anglicization is not a huge risk for Japan. Most Japanese kids don’t want to play foreign games, watch foreign movies or learn English.
In Japan, my city hall doesn’t have any employees that can speak English.

Japan is at risk of loosing some of it’s traditions- but because of population decline, not integration with anyother of culture.

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I think this is an interesting topic, and it’s definitely something I think of occasionally. On the other hand, though, English itself is a language made up of several - British English is part Germanic, part Latin, part French, and probably a few other things thrown in (thanks to our history of both conquering and being conquered by other European countries) - but English is measurably different as a language from German, and Italian, and French. Even though we have a lot of loan words (especially from French) there’s very little mutual intelligibility between English and other European languages, even the ones we share roots with. Even one of our more closely related languages, Scots (which descended from the same root language) isn’t mutually intelligible.

So I think the risk that Japanese, or any other language, will simply become English if it takes too many loan words into itself is probably not a major risk. Japanese will still be Japanese, it’ll just have some loan words in it, like most languages do, but it won’t become English, I think. It won’t lose its essence as a language.

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Well, I don’t think it’s a problem unless America invades Japan and makes English the main language artificially, which is not something I’m afraid of at least at the moment. And if it even were the case in a long term it would even make Japanese stronger, I believe (if Japanese manages to escape before its identity is totally lost in centuries)
I feel right now it’s all going naturally, and as long as it’s that way, it should be fine.
If we try to pull it somewhere else, we might just shoot our leg in one way or another.

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Japanese language didn’t become Chinese, so it can probably survive English influence too.
If anything, flushing out some of the more confusing Chinese-derived exceptions and homophones in favor of something more intuitive would not be a bad change.

There is certainly excessive borrowing from English into other languages at the moment. But all it takes to push back is to not use the words you feel don’t belong. Vow to never say 「スプーン」or 「セクハラ」, set a language example for your kids (or another circle of influence), let the fad pass.

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I think 戦争 against English in Japanese should start from somewhere here: https://ja.react.dev/ :laughing:

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