My language is a champon [mixture] of English and Japanese. When I'm speaking English, I throw in maybe 10% Japanese words or use Japanese constructions. If I speak Japanese, there are always English words in the mix.
It must be very confusing to anyone who doesn't speak both languages. I'll have to be careful when I leave Japan. Fortunately, everyone around me here does the same thing--mixes up languages at will.
Our vague utterances are always Japanese:
un - Yep
daijoubu? - OK? Are you OK? It that OK?
tadaima - Honey, I'm home.
iyada - No way, I won't!
ie ie - No, no, no, no
hai - Yes
Sometimes what comes out of my mouth sounds like English, but it really isn't. Most of the time, I'm not even aware that I'm not really speaking shizen na Eigo [natural English]. Here are some samples:
Must toilet! - I urgently need to use the restroom.
Let's do sports - Let's go to the gym.
She really levelled up - She improved dramatically.
I'm losing my English - I am losing my ability to speak and write fluently in English.
I would really like to keep my English, so I'd better level up on my use of shizen na Eigo.
We really gotta learn to do good English ne! Let's bad English quit!
Don't worry - when you go back to an English speaking country you can be re-educated.
BTW you'de better close the italic tag on this entry - it's affected all of your other entries.
It will be part of you forever...a secret language that you and Tod (and the zous) share. Some things are better expressed in Japanese; either there's no English equivalent (genki) or it sounds overly formal or intrusive or just odd in English.
I read your entry with a smile. I have spent about four weeks in Japan over a the last eight years. Not much time. But when I returned from both trips, after about two weeks in Japan, I was speaking concatenated English, and some of my American friends said I was speaking with a bit of an accent.
On my first trip to Japan I was the only native Englisih speaker around; so I learned a lot of Japanese English. Back here in the US I have been complimented for my understanding of Japanese English, translating for the tour guide, who orders the meals for her charges in English.
But most Americans can't hear English overlaid with a foreign accent.
chuck
Back in the US after just three months in Japan, I helped out a woman and her daughter who were trying to order iced tea in a cafe in San Francisco. I understood them perfectly--eye-su tchee reh-mon--but the boy behind the counter didn't get it at all. So I "translated" into American English--ayez tee wuth lehmun--and they got their order. Pretty embarrassing for everyone, really. Except the cafe worker who just had no clue to be embarrassed.