One of the more curious stories to come out of the 2018 Winter Olympics involved the Korean women’s hockey team. In the spirit of detente, North Korean players were invited to join the South Korean team, forming a unified squad. Twelve of the 35-strong team hailed from the DPRK.
No sooner had the team started practicing than problems with communication arose.
Like Japan, Korea has dialects (or bang-eon in Korean) and accents (saturi) that vary from region to region. The biggest source of misunderstanding between players, however, was South Korea’s heavy borrowing of English loanwords, similar to gairaigo (外来語), or katakana words in Japanese, and the North’s wholesale shunning of them in its eternal quest for Juche, the ideology of self-reliance. The language barrier was so great that a translator had to be hired and a booklet of phrases created so team members could understand one another.
Reading about this, I was reminded that in Japan, too, English was once considered the language of a hostile country, or tekiseigo (敵性語). While not officially banned, English words were rejected in favor of more Japanese sounding ones as tensions between America and the U.K. and Japan rose. New words for everything, from sporting terms to food, had to be invented, sometimes to unintended humorous effect. Even the use of the alphabet was eschewed. When the Pacific War began in late 1941, this movement away from English became more remarkable. The following are some examples:
Baseball
Strike one! → Yoshi ippon (よし1本) or Seikyu (正球)
Strike two! → Yoshi nihon (よし2本)
Strike three! You’re out! → Yoshi sanbon, sore made.（よし3本、それまで)
Ball! → Dame hitotsu（だめ1つ) or Akkyu (悪球)
Foul → Dame (だめ) or Kengai (圏外)
Out → Hike (ひけ) or Mui (無為)
Other Sports
Rugby → Tokyu (闘球, lit. “fighting ball")
Volleyball → Haikyu (排球)
Golf → Dakyu (打球）or Shikyu (芝球, lit. “grass ball")
Handball → Sokyu (送球, lit. “send ball")
Skiing →Yukisuberi (雪滑, lit. “snow sliding")
Iceskating → Korisuberi (氷滑, lit. “ice sliding")
Media
Announcer → Hosoin (放送員)
Microphone → Sowaki (送話器)
Record → Onban (音盤, lit. “sound plate")
News → Hodo (報道)
Music
Saxophone → Kinzokusei Sakimagari Onkyodashiki (金属性先曲がり音響出し機, lit. “metal bent-tipped sound producing instrument")
Trombone → Nukisashimagari Ganeshinchurappa (抜き差し曲がり金真鍮喇叭)
Violin → Teikin (提琴)
Contrabass → Yokaiteki Yongen (妖怪的四弦, lit. “ghostly four string")
Piano → Yokin (洋琴, lit. “western koto")
Do re me . . . → Ha Ni Ho He To I Ro Ha (ハ･ニ･ホ･ヘ･ト･イ･ロ･ハ)
Magazines
King → Fuji (富士)
Sunday Mainichi → Shukan Mainichi (週刊毎日)
Economist → Keizai Mainichi (経済毎日)
Food and Beverages
Soda → Funshussui (噴出水, lit. “eruption water")
Fried → Yoten (洋天, lit. “western tempura")
Caramel → Gunrosei (軍粮精)
Croquette → Aburaage Nikumanju (油揚げ肉饅頭, lit. “deep-fried meat dumpling")
Curry and Rice → Karamiirishiru Kake Meshi (辛味入汁掛飯, lit. “spicy flavored soup poured on rice")
Pencils
HB → Chuyo (中庸, lit. “moderate")
H → Ko (硬, lit. “hard")
B → Nan (軟, lit. “soft")
Plants
Cosmos → Akizakura (秋桜, lit. “autumn cherry blossom")
Cyclamen → Kagaribiso (篝火草)
Tulip → Ukonko (鬱金香, lit. “bright yellow fragrance")
Hyacinth → Fushinsu (風信子)
Animals
Kangaroo → Fukuro Nezumi (袋鼠, lit. “pocket mouse")
Lion → Shishi (獅子)
Japan was not alone in proscribing the use of the enemy’s language during WWII. In the U.S., too, propaganda posters urged the good citizens: “Don't speak the enemy’s language! Speak American!” Unfortunately, that sentiment remains strong for certain, shall we say, less evolved people in the United States. I personally have evolved so much I find myself not only speaking Japanese more often than English, but even rooting for Japanese athletes more than I do my own compatriots.