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Recently, the results of the 2002 public opinion poll conducted
by the Ministry of Education regarding the Japanese language were
released. Most of the respondents expressed a feeling of change
in daily Japanese language specifically referring to the younger
generation. Despite the influence of youth on the language, difficult
vernacular and confusion in the language has become more pronounced.
However, compared to two years ago, the people who responded, "Japanese
is confusing," decreased 5.4% while those that responded "Japanese
is not more confusing" increased 6.7% for a total of 17%. For
example, when we pay at the register at a fast food or family restaurant,
the clerk will either say, "Your total comes to 1,000 yen,"
or "Out of 1,000 yen." Neither seems necessarily wrong
or offensive to the ear and therefore, it will not be too long that
both are considered correct Japanese according to the results of
the poll. Furthermore, Japanese has become inundated with katakana
loan words which many people say they do not understand. Although,
I do not necessarily recommend katakana loan words, they seem to
appear in many different arenas. They are especially unavoidable
in the world of business. There are some words that I have heard
and could not respond to. These are some of the same words that
had a low level of understanding in the public opinion poll. Following
is a list of those words that seem to appear most often. Many words
are derived from English but there are a few from other languages.
| Loan
Word |
Definition |
| Informed
Consent |
A physician's legal duty
to fully explain the extent of a patient's condition |
| Cooperation |
Working together to reach
a common goal Assessment Evaluation, appraisal, judgment |
| Scheme |
Plan, strategy, design,
policy |
| Digital
archive |
Archiving of digital information |
| Tracability |
A system that provides data
throughout each step in the production process |
| Task force |
A group of people and resources
temporarily formed to complete a task. |
| Empowerment |
Give power or authority
to someone. |
| Mécéna
(French) |
Support of public arts and
science by corporations. Governance Act or state of social governing. |
| Enforcement |
Compel obedience to a law,
regulation or command. |
| Incubation |
Support during start-up
of an organization, period of development |
| Consortium |
A grouping of corporations
or organizations |
| Competence |
Ability or expertise to
understand or perform something. |
| Stick
holder |
Those that hold advantages
and disadvantages. |
*PRIMIX Corporation has been change name at November
21,2005, from Tokushu Kika Kogyo.
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