As you might know (and I've talked about it on this blog) Japanese has an extensive vocabulary of foreign words, spelled / pronounced in a phonetically Japanese way. And there is a special Japanese alphabet - Katakana - with which to write them.
Janru (ジャンル) in Japanese apparently means 'type' or 'category'. My friend knew it was foreign, because it's written in Katakana. But which foreign language.. more of a mystery. Many Katakana words are from English, but by no means all. 'Pan' (パン - bread) for example, is from Portuguese - as are quite a number of words, due to historical dealings with that country.
He wondered if janru was French or English. And in fact, I think he is right on both counts. In British English, we use 'genre' (pron: jon-rer) to mean a type or category. But the word is French. Japanese is not the only language to borrow!
We use a lot of modern French words in modern English. Of course, one of the many ancient influences on the English language is French - not least from being conquered by them (and for centuries it seems boundaries between, and rule of, the two countries were much more 'fluid' and disputed than they are today!) Most of these French words were absorbed into English many hundreds of years ago, and they've become corrupted over time. So we can't even recognise them as 'French' any more. They are now English! (Often if an English word is pronounced unlike its spelling, it came from original French!)
But aside from this, we have just appropriated convenient French words and their meanings for everyday modern English. 'Genre' is one of them. And we have many more!
Here are some others, with very rudimentary attempts to help with pronunciation... ^^
- RSVP
Meaning: please reply. It is an acronym for Répondez, S'il Vous Plaît.
- Chauffeur
Meaning: driver.
- Déjà vu (dayjah vu)
Meaning: literally 'already seen' - the inexplicable feeling that what you are experiencing has happened before.
- Chic (sheek)
Meaning: stylish.
- A la Carte
Meaning: literally, by the menu. We use it to mean choosing individual dishes from the menu.
- Au Fait (oh fay)
Meaning: knowledgeable of, familiar with. Example: "Sarah is au fait with HTML coding". (She's not an expert, but she's proficient at it!)
- Enfant Terrible (ohnfohn ter-eeble)
Meaning: literally 'terrible child'. But it refers to a person who is shocking or unconventional - and often used as a slight compliment in creative circles. "He is the enfant terrible of fashion design!" implies he is shocking but maybe brilliant.
- Entrepreneur
Meaning: a person who sets up and runs ventures.
- Gaffe
Meaning: a blunder. To make a gaffe is to stupidly say something badly inappropriate.
- Clique (cleek)
Meaning: a closed group. 'Cliquey' is not a very positive thing in the UK.
- Gauche (goh-sh)
Meaning: literally in French it means 'left' (which perhaps implies a clumsy left hand?) It is a word applied to socially inexperienced or clumsy people. Often young people trying too hard! "Oh dear, that new Chris guy is a bit gauche!"
- Omelette
Meaning: an omelette! (The Americans often prefer to spell it omelet)
- Au de Toilette (oh de twahl-ette)
Meaning: literally, 'washtime water'. But it refers to perfumes, as most of us know! It means the slightly more watered (and more affordable!) version of a fragrance.
Incidentally, due to the long term success of these industries in France, global terms using French increase a lot if you work with sectors such as fashion, art, music, food, wine, perfumes and other luxury goods!
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| Jean Paul Gaultier was an 'enfant terrible' of fashion design! |
Also, does France borrow modern English words too?? (Or even historically, did the language exchange go both ways??) OR are there Japanese words out there (besides perhaps Manga and Anime) which have been adopted into the day-to-day of other cultures? If you know, please do add in comments!
Photo credit: Style Gibberish
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