15 Japanese Words With A Totally Different English Meaning!
Since living in Japan, I’ve come across quite a few words used by Japanese people that (mostly) originally come from English. However, it took me a while to really understand what they meant here, as it was pretty different from the English meaning.
These types of words are called wasei-eigo (literally meaning “made in Japan English”). I’ve highlighted some of my favourite ones here;
- ファイト！(faito/fight)
If you were to shout fight in the middle of a pub, or a street in an English-speaking countries, you would assume that somewhere closeby, a couple of people were throwing punches or beating each other up. In Japan though, they use this phrase as a meaning of “good luck/you can do it!”. Often used in competitions or events.
2. テンション (tenshon/tension)
Tension, or being tense would generally imply a bit of an awkward moment or when emotions are high due to a bad or strange situation. However, in Japan tension is used when someone is really excited about something or when spirits are high. Pretty much the total opposite of the English meaning!
3. フロント (furonto/front)
This word in English just means the front of something. It could be a building, car, shop front, literally anything. In Japan however, フロント means the front desk of a hotel. You’ll often see it signposted in an elevator or at the entrance to the hotel.
4. ジェットコースター (jettokousuta-/jetcoaster)
Jetcoaster doesn’t really have a direct usage in English, except this word was somehow used adapted into Japanese as another way of saying rollercoaster.
5. コンセント (konsento/consent)
This one confused me for the longest time as I couldn’t even really understand where this word had come from in English. Consent in English, is of course giving permission for something, but a コンセントin Japan is actually plug socket in the wall. This word is a shortened version of concentric plug.
6. マイペース (maipe-ce/my pace)
Again, no actually usage of this in English and if you were to use it in conversation, I’m sure everyone will be confused. However, in Japanese this generally refers to someone who works at their own pace and can’t be influenced by anyone else.
7. サラリーマン (sarari-man/salaryman)
After being in Japan for so long and using this on a daily basis, I’ve now fogorgotten that this is not a true English word. As you could guess though, this refers to a businessman, and often the older, more angry breed of salarymen!
8. ペーパードライバー (pe-pa-doraiba-/paper driver)
THe term “paper driver” has an obvious meaning but isn’t really used in English too much. This is a common term in Japanese and refers to someone who has a license but doesn’t actually drive, or hasn’t driven since passing their test. Often implies they’re a bad/poor driver as they rarely do it and the drivers license merely becomes a form of ID.
9. スキンシップ (sukinshippu/skinship)
Skinship sounds incredibly weird in English but it basically refers to physical contact in an intimate relationship. Don’t think this one would work very well in a normal, English conversation!
10. マンション (manshon/mansion)
A mansion in the UK, or perhaps over English-speaking countries usually refers to a huge house with 15 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms and a 100-acre garden, but it’s pretty much the opposite in Japan! A mansion here is simply an apartment building, with incredibly small one room apartments — my “mansion” is only 25m squared in total (including bathrooms, hallways and wardrobe space!). I love telling people at home that I live in a mansion though!
11. バイキング (baikingu/viking)
A viking, as we all know were Norse people who sported horned helmets, swords, shields and generally did a lot of plundering. However, a バイキングin Japan is simply a buffet or an all you can eat restaurant! I’m sure probably very similar to the type of meals they had back then!
12. アンケート (anke-to/enquête)
Japanese people often assume that this is an English word and when I stare at them blankly, they’re generally pretty confused. In fact, it actually comes from a French word, meaning “questionnaire”.
13. カンニング (kaningu/Cunning)
Cunning in English generally means that someone is a bit deceptive, “clever”, sly, or got somewhere great from deceiving someone. In Japan, it’s not too dissimilar but is only used as a noun for cheating. It’s not something to be proud of unlike in English
14. マフラー (mafura-/muffler)
I’ve not lived in the UK for some time now, but I’m pretty sure we don’t use the word muffler for an item of clothing. Generally something that muffles sound. In Japan, this is what they call a scarf.
15. トランプ (toranpu/trump)
Trump in English is either the President of the US, a fart or a card game. Here in Japan, トランプ is the actual playing cards, not the game. Not sure if they even play trumps here!
So that’s all 15 words that I thought you might find interesting, and be careful when you use them in Japan — make sure you use them for the right, Japanese meaning!
Good luck!
