Learning loanwords from reading in Japanese
Shoko Fujiwara 011106
Introduction
This experiment tried to find out how Japanese people could learn loanwords
from reading an article in Japanese. Even though we have many chances to see or
read loanwords in our daily lives, we do not know about loanwords well. Moreover, we
do not know how we select loanwords to remember or understand from reading. In
addition, I tried to figure out people’s attitudes to loanwords through this thesis.
Research questions
1. To find out how the subjects could learn loanwords from reading an article
in Japanese.
2. To find out which is easier to answer, Katakana words or Kanji or English?
3. To find out about people’s attitudes to loanwords
The experiment
Subjects: 27 subjects who are Japanese female university students. Almost all the
subjects are English majors.
Instrument: There were 2 tests with each envelope. One is Test 1 ( Pre-reading test).
Test 1 asked the subjects about 33 target loanwords. The other is Test 2
(Post-reading test). After reading an article, the subjects took 12 of the
33 loanwords.
・About Test 1 (Pre-reading test)
E.g.) The example of the 33 target loanwords
インセンティブ（意欲刺激剤）、オンデマンド（注文対応）etc
Test 1 ( Pre-reading test) has the follow questions.
1. Please write the meaning of the word in Japanese.
( Table 1 shows us the result)
2. Please write the spelling of the word in English.
( Table 2 shows us the result)
・About Test 2 (Post-reading test)
An article which included in the Test 2 focused on 12 loanwords of the
33 target loanwords to ask the same questions as the Test 1.
It also asked the subjects their attitudes to loanwords.
Procedure: 1. Open and answer the first envelope.
2. Seal it so the subjects would not see their answers again.
3. Open and answer the second envelope. In this case, the subjects
have to finish reading the article and answering within 15 minutes to
find out how they could learn loanwords from reading the article.
Result
1. Overall, the subjects could not learn the loanwords well.
Table 1: The result of comprehension in Japanese.
0
Test 1
(Pre-reading test)
=
=
=
=
can
can
can
can
2
3
42.8% 11.4% 11.7% 34%
Test 2
(Post-reading test)
0
1
2
3
1
48%
28%
11%
13%
not understand at all
not understand well
understand a little
understand surely
2. The subjects could learn the spellings of the loanwords easily.
Table 2: The result of the spellings
0
1
2
3
Test 1
(Pre-reading test)
5.1%
8.6%
19.5%
66.8%
Test 2
(Post-reading test)
5%
5%
26%
64%
3. Learning loanwords from reading did not work well.
The subjects already knew some of the 33 target loanwords on the Test
1. However, after reading the article on the Test 2, they could not learn
another loanwords well. In fact, percentages of the words became lower
than before. They could learn some of the loanwords from reading the
article such as シンクタンク：政策研究機関(+17%) but overall, the
result shows us learning loanwords from reading did not work well.
Table 3: The change of the comprehension
Test 1(Pre-reading test) Test 2 (Post-reading test)
インタラクティブ
64%
62%
フレックスタイム
84%
56%
コンセンサス
50%
33%
4. The subjects think of loanwords both positively and negatively.
Some people think of loanwords positively because they believe
they can be an international person or they can easily to accept the
loanwords without translating into Japanese.
Others think of loanwords negatively because they believe they have to
protect Japanese as our language. In addition, nowadays we have too
many loanwords which make them confused with the use or the
pronunciation.
Through this thesis, I figured that the subjects have critical problems with
loanwords. When people use loanwords, they tend to accept them with the nuance
between the loanwords and Japanese. It causes misunderstandings between them.
Loanwords have spread and are used in many fields. I think we should discuss how
many loanwords people can accept Japanese because of having too many of the
loanwords nowadays.