TL;DR – A bit of Japanglish can go a long way.
A major issue of travelling is not being able to speak the language of the country you are visiting. It is a major inconvenience when you are in urgent need of a toilet, but don’t know where it is and aren’t able to ask for directions because you can’t speak the language and no one there can really speak English. But in Japan, quite a few people can speak a bit of English. Or at least the Japanese version of English.
Thats right. Just as we have Singlish, Japan has Japanglish. And if you are visiting Japan, but don’t have time to pick up enough basic Japanese, the least you can do is pick up some Japanglish. And this clip will certainly help you pick up some of the more important words:
In the video, the protagonist (yes, the very famous Namewee) is in Japan. He knows very little Japanese. Mainly the names of some well-known Japanese brands, like… Hitachi, Toyota, Kawasaki, Nintendo. Oh. And he loves… ahem… Aoi Sora. As a result, he had trouble finding out where the good food is. That led to a hilarious music video of Japanese introducing him to Japanglish words.
And here are some of the Japanglish words that we think would be really useful if you are heading to Japan:
If you urgently need the toilet, ask for the “toiletto”. That’s how you say toilet in Japanglish. You are hungry and need a snack? Ask where the “Sebun Elebun” is. That’s Seven-Eleven. There, you can get some kitto katto (Kit Kat), miruku (milk), and even some biru (beer). Seven Eleven not good enough? You want more food? Then you might want to go Makudonarudo for the Big Mac. Makudo-narudo is how the Japanese say McDonald’s. But if you prefer Starbucks, then you want Sutabakkusu.
If you want a day of fun, then you really want to go Dizunilando. That’s Disneyland for you. Then, after a day of fun, you can get a takushi go hoteru. Yep. Taxi go hotel. But if you low on cash, perhaps you should take the basu. That’s the bus.
Lastly, if all else false, there’s always Guguru. Google. That will probably tell you everything you need to know. Including useful translations too!
So there you go. Some useful Japanglish terms that should help you get by Japan.
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