Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 10:43:53 -0400

From: Grant Barrett gbarrett[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JERRYNET.COM

Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Japo=F1ol?=



I ran across an article in El Diario, the New York metropolitan area Spanish language daily, that

covers the transfer of Spanish words into Japanese. I thought this might be interesting for those of

you looking into Spanglish. The article is below for your edification in Spanish and English.



I ran it through optical character recognition and used a computer translator into English, so

there will be errors (although I took care with the specific Japoqol words). Between the

computer's Spanish to English translation and my own, I think we have the sense of the article,

and possibly the facts. Also, be aware that your system or mail reader may not interpret the

accents correctly, so you might see little squares or other unlikely characters.



"Japoqol": mezcla de japonis y espaqol



EFETokio



Miles de inmigrantes latinoamericanos residentes en este pams han acuqado el 'japoqol", un

hmbrido entre el japonis y espaqol que, sin llegar a la complejidad del "spanglish" en Estados

Unidos, suple las necesidades de comunicacisn con un idioma difmcil y arduo como el japonis.



Con la bonanza econsmica de los aqos ochenta miles de descendientes de japoneses nacidos en

pamses como Perz, Argentina, Bolivia o Paraguay, deshacen los pasos de sus padres y abuelos y

regresan al archipiilago para convertirse en "dekasegui", sustantivo que significa "emigrante" y

que en 'japoqol" se pluralizs en "dekaseguis" sin que los acadimicos japoneses de la lengua se

enteraran.



"International Press", un semanario local en espaqol que informa de la actualidad japonesa y del

mundo a los "dekaseguis" latinoamericanos, incluye en su pagina de pasatiempos el "dekagrama",

un crucigrama cuya solucisn acertada se premia con tarjetas telefsnicas prepagadas, que en Japsn

se llaman"kaddo", adaptacisn de la palabra inglesa "card", tarjeta.



Los hijos de japoneses que nacen en otro pams,como el presidente peruano Alberto Fujimori, son

llamados "ni-sei", segunda generacisn, mientras que su hija, Keiko Soifa, serma "san-sei", tercera

generacisn.



Los hispanohablantes en Japsn aplican estos numerales como si fueran palabras de nuestro idioma

y para catalogar a un descendiente de origen nipsn dudoso, que puede haber recurrido a

documentos falsificados o incluso a la cirugma estitica para orientalizar sus facciones, inventaron

el despectivo 'falsei".



Un popular cantante peruano de ascendencia japonesa, Alberto Shiroma, tituls una de sus

canciones "Gambateando", tmpico caso de morfologma hispana aplicada a la palabra "gambaru",

(esforzarse, perseverar), uno de los verbos que mas se ve obligado a conjugar todo

el que habita en este archipiilago.



La inclinacisn de los latinoamericanos a modificar nombres propios y sustantivos con diminutivos

encuentra en el japonis un gran au4liaren el sufijo "chan" qze, aqadido al final de cualquier

palabra, la enternece y aumenta sus posibilidades en "japoqol".



Por obra de este sufijo mas de una "okaa-chan" (madrecita o mamacita) ha dejado de llamar a sus

niqos Pablito o Fernandito para decirles "Pablo-chan" o "Femando-chan". El vocabulario de

supervivencia del "dekasegui" incluye palabras japonesas como "guemba" (lugar de trabajo),

"nihongo" (el idioma japonis), "shachs" (jefe) y "shigoto" (trabajo).



La gran dificultad para aprender los ideogramas hace que muchss hispanohablantes rechacen la

ardua tarea que supone el aprendizaje del japonis en su forma escrita mientras que el parecido

fonitico entre los dos idiomas facilita la rapida memorizacion de ciertas palabras.



Azn asm, ningzn diccionario auxiliara al hipanohablante reciin llegado cuando oiga a un

compatriota decir a su esposa: "okaachan" pristame una 'kaddo" para llamar a la "guemba" y

decirle al "shachs" que hoy no puedo ir al "shigoto", pero que maqana seguro "gambateo ".







"Japoqol": Mixture of Japanese and Spanish



EFE-Tokyo



Thousands of resident Latin American immigrants in this country have coined "japoqol", a hybrid

of Japanese and Spanish that, without reaching the complexity of "Spanglish" in United States,

supplies the mecessary communication with an arduous and difficult language of Japanese.



With the economic prosperity of the Eighties, thousands of Japanese descendants born in

countries such as Peru, Argentina, Bolivia or Paraguay, retrace the steps of their parents and

grandparents and return to the archipelago to be converted into "dekasegui", basically meaning

"migratory" and that in "japoqol" is pluralized as "dekaseguis"without the assistance of Japanese

academics.



"International Press", a weekly local in Spanish covering Japonese and world news for the

"dekaseguis" Latin American, includes in its pastimes page the" dekagrama ", a crucigram whose

winners are rewarded with telephone cards, that in Japan are called" kaddo ", adaptation of the

English word "card."



The Japanese children born in another country, such as Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, are

called " ni-sei ", second generation, while his daughter, Keiko Soifa, would be "san-sei ", third

generation.



The Spanish-speaking in Japan apply these numerals as if they are Spanish words and to catalogue

descendants of doubtful Japanese origin that may have resorted to counterfeit documents or even

to the plastic surgery for orientalizar [Orientalizing, I would guess, an interesting coinageGAB]

their features, invented the contemptuous 'falsei".



A popular Peruvian singer of Japanese ancestry, Alberto Shiroma, titled one of his songs

"Gambateando", a typical case of Hispanic morphology applied to the word "gambaru", (to be

strengthened, to persevere), a verb that is often conjugated by the ihabitants of this archipelago.



The tendency of Latin Americans to modify proper nouns and names with diminutives finds the

Japanese suffix "chan" beneficial. Its addition at the end of any word softens it and increases its

possibilities in Japoqol.



By means of this suffix we get "okaa-chan" (madrecita or mamacita) calling to her children Pablito

or Fernandito instead saying "Pablo-chan" or" Fernando-chan". The surviving vocabulary of the

"dekasegui" includes Japanese words such as "guemba" (place of work), "nihongo" (the Japanese

language), "shachs" (chief) and" shigoto" (work).



The great difficulty in learning the ideograms causes that many Spanish-speakers to reject that

arduous task of learning Japanese in its written form, while the similar phonetics among the two

languages facilitates the rapid memorization of certain words.



Even so, no auxiliary dictionary to the recently-arrived Spanish-speakers when hears to a

compatriot to say to his wife: "okaachan" give me a "kaddo" to call to the "guemba "and to say to

him "shachs" that today I can not go to the "shigoto", but that tomorrow surely "gambateo".