Monday 9 November 2009

NO sankyou

I'm sorry, but when did 'sank you' get integrated into the Japanese language, you have a word for thank you people, use it!!

I can deal with the gaggles of school girls screeching "Baiiiiiiiii Baaaaaiiiiiiii!!!!!" even though my ears have come close to bleeding on occasion, and I even found it amusing when I first came to Japan when I would order an "orange juice" and be met with a blank stare until I said "Ooorenji juusu" and was given a hearty smile and an enthusiastic "Kashkomarimashita!" But really, lately the stealing of the English words and butchering them is annoying me.

Uh oh, am I turning into one of those bitter people who live in Japan for waaayyyy too long and get all cynical and twisted about everything here...

Bitter or not, leave thank you alone.
I have now heard, on at least 4 separate occasions, 'sank you' used. The first I could forgive, it was at a shop, directed at Ryota and I so I thought it might have been for my whitey arse benefit, the second I could also forgive because it was a school girl who had been on homestay in Australia for 3 months, but the last 2 were complete random, no whiteys in sight 'sank yous.'

Of course, most Japanese people know how to say thank you in English, it's a common word after all, like I know how to say it in Spanish or Italian, and I guess I shouldn't bitch too much, I mean ask an Aussie if they want to do Karaoke and they'll probably answer with "Huh?! Whaddja say?? Ahhhh Carry-ohhh-keeeyyy!!!" We butcher J-words just as much I suppose... Anyone for a drink of Sarrrkeeeeyyyy??

I'm not sure when I got so protective over the English language, but fuck me people, they've stolen enough words for now, there was a whole cunting alphabet invented for stolen words, leave us alone!
Sadly, it may be beyond my control now though, I was amazed that when Obaachan was quizzed on what English she knew, (which incidentally was more than dumb arse BIL) she was able to mumble "solly," "harro," and.... yup, "sank you." She even extended it and tried to say "sank you bery bery machi" when my mum was here but forgot the 'machi' so didn't work out for the poor petal. Oh, and she also knows "Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa," as Ash is in the giving and taking things stage and I'm encouraging Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa every time I take something from him.

i have friends who get incredibly annoyed when they can speak Japanese and a Japanese person tries to speak to them in English, especially really bad, broken English. I'm not quite there yet because 1) My Japanese isn't good enough that I wouldn't prefer English, 2) I remember when I couldn't speak any Japanese and would almost hump anyone's leg who spoke the Queens to me, and 3) Relllaaaxxxxx people! Although I was quite pissed with the USJ girl who told me the stroller couldn't go in the attraction, when I gave her a filthy look she took it as I didn't understand so just started yelling "Buggy No! Buggy No!"

Does anyone else get annoyed by bad English???

4 comments:

  1. I guess the whole "sank you" thing is because they find it hard to pronounce the "th" in thank you. Yasu still does it and he's lived here for 7 years... you're right, we do butcher japanese alot the two examples you mentioned and car-ar-tee chop.

    The only thing I think that annoys me is Japanese people don't know how to say "excuse me", as in they never say it, and just push past rudely.

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  2. I think I have mentioned it before but I hardly ever get spoken to in English here in Shizuoka so I haven't had the chance to get annoyed!! LOL

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  3. My husband and I are in Tokyo now; we are here about every 18 months for business. I don't know about you, but as a visitor I have noticed a huge increase in the number of words in katakana in the last 3 years. In our hotel room right now there is a little card advertising massage and "relax massage" is written in katakana. There is no Japanese word for relax or massage?! I put all my energy into learning hiragana so the katakana irritates me. Also, I had drink this afternoon and in katakana the label said "pu-ri-mi-a-mu!" premium! There is no Japanese word for premium?!

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  4. Hell yeah. Especially when the perpetrators work around you. Listening becomes 15% message deduction and 85% decoding task.

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