Opinion R nu words 2 much 4 u? By Joseph LaPenta	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
ニューワードはEか悪いか？ アメリカの若者の間では 電子メールや携帯での通信から生まれた 新しい単語表記が広まっている。 日本でも、外来語・外国語が多用され、 新しい種類の言葉が問題になっている。

In the past, junior high-school and senior high-school teachers in the United States used to give their students a list of common spelling mistakes. Students were warned to distinguish between the following:

There/their/they're, your/ you're,to/too/two, its/it's.

But recently, they have had to add: u, r, ur, b4, cuz, 2. (Translation: you, are, your/ you're, before, because, to/ too/ two.) These are examples of the abbreviated writing style used by American students in e-mail and cellphone messages. It may just be a passing fad, or it may be part of a much larger, fundamental change in the way people communicate.

Some students are now using this kind of writing in homework assignments and school compositions. Most teachers punish students for such writing. Others have decided that if they can't fight it, they should try to take advantage of it. They tell students to write first drafts of compositions in e-mail style, then translate them into formal English.

The problem is one of boundaries. In most languages, written and spoken styles are different, and professional writers, editors and teachers act as the border guards. In some countries, notably France, government agencies have made rules about what is acceptable usage. They have even imposed fines on violators.

These days, there is a language problem in Japan too. It concerns the use of loan words, mainly from English. It is no longer just parents complaining about teen slang, or foreign teachers ranting about the fractured English on T-shirts or in advertising slogans, but now the Japanese government is beginning to get bothered about borrowings.

A panel has been appointed to propose measures to hold back the flood of foreign words. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said that he is very upset by ugly katakana transcriptions of English words used by bureaucrats in government reports. One of his examples was incubator, rendered "inkyubeetaa" when pronounced in katakana.

The director of the Japanese language division of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Satoshi Yamaguchi, also mentioned abuses such as negotiation (negoshieishon), interactive (intarakutibu) and literacy (riterashii).

Since there are perfectly good Japanese words for all of these terms, there would seem to be no need for new ones. However, as the French have learned, all efforts at language control are doomed to failure. For better or for worse, the Japanese language seems to be changing rapidly into something we might call "Nyu Japaneezu."

But every cloud has a silver lining. Young people who listen to Japanese popular music, especially "J-pop," have a head start. They are already used to hearing songs sung almost entirely in Nyu Japaneezu. In addition, English-speaking foreigners will no longer have to study difficult, old-fashioned Japanese. They can just speak English with a Japanese accent. I have a number of foreign friends who have been doing that for many years. I asked one of them what he thought of the trend toward Nyu Japaneezu, and he replied, "Ai amu beri beri happi!"

Shukan ST: Nov. 22, 2002

(C) All rights reserved