Not sure if this is an original topic. Anyone else find themselves searching for a word in English, a word with a certain nuance, only to come up with a Japanese word? I thought it was cool at first, but it's beginning to annoy me. If only I could get away with tossing Japanese into English texts. Likewise with my attempts at concision, I sometimes wish I could just throw in some kanji.

It is called Alzheimer. Be careful =P.

This happens to me sometimes. Which ever word is freshest in my head pops up first. If I think and hear なつかしい more often than "nostalgic", なつかしい will pop up even if the rest of my thought was in English.
It sucks when I try to explain Japanese stuff(like a scene from anime or something) to other people in English, I have to come up with translations on the spot for things I haven't thought about in English.

This happens to me sometimes to. Sometimes I'll be thinking to myself in english and accidently add から or ね to the end of a sentence =D

bombpersons Wrote:This happens to me sometimes to. Sometimes I'll be thinking to myself in english and accidently add から or ね to the end of a sentence =D

やっぱり Japanese is seeding itself within yours brainz やっぱり

I have a few random expression on the tip of my tongue as well.

I have a couple of times stopped myself apologising with ごめん. I have never accidently used a Japanese word instead of an english one. Although i did with french once.

Je M'apple Mark (spelling i know.. its been 8 years since i studied french)
二十四歳です .. umm wait that isnt french argh what happened! (yeah im aware about Kanji numbers.. but it goes against the point if i just write 24 )

Good to know. Today it was when I was trying to think of a way to say something like 'putting on footwear' in a succinct way, without using general words like 'wear' or 'don', et cetera, and all I could think of was 履く.

And of course, slangy Japanese interjections always pop into my head. あの... チェ...

Another favourite of mine is going 'は...?' in an incredulous voice. ^_- And 'eh' instead of 'yeah'...

Yeah. It happens to me with English all the time as well. It has even, on several occasions, happened that I want to say something... I think of it in Japanese... then in English... and then it stops, and I simply give up trying to think of the Swedish word.

Annoying, but still cool

The words that always trip me up are "gambatte", "genki" and "kibishii". There just aren't good English words for this nuance (IMO).

I've stopped answering with "what" and almost always use 何。 But one that I find myself using a lot is あぁ～ならほど　and そうか when I listen to people talk. ^^ My roomies have gotten used to it... to the point where when they say "I didn't go today"(or something like it) and I answer with どうして？ they just follow up with the reason. XD

But I totally understand the part about explaining things in English but all you can think of is the Japanese word... it was really had when I got back from my study abroad a month ago and try to explain things to people when the asked me what I did.... 'cause when all you've used for the past 5 months is words like " コンビニ" and "地下鉄 " ... it's hard to break the habit ^_^

I don't know nearly enough Japanese for this to happen to me much yet (looks like fun awaits...), but have used 何 by accident a few times (as well as on purpose, since it's more fun to say in a incredulous tone of voice somehow).
Random snippets of German I remember from school make their way into my attempts at Japanese more often, which is quite weird. Ichi, ni, drei...何?

About 6 weeks ago I went back to the States for a few weeks. Everytime I answered a question, I slightly nodded my head. And at the movie theatre, the clerk said "$6.00" and I pulled out a $10 bill and said "はい" when I handed to her. She was slightly confused.

Yeah, one time after I got back from my semester in Niigata I forgot the word for "vending machine" in English. I remember wanting to use it in a conversation, and I stopped and tried to think but it just wouldn't come out: "uh, 自動販売機, uh, you know, that big metal thing that you put money into and stuff comes out." I got a lot of crap for that one for a while.

theasianpleaser Wrote:About 6 weeks ago I went back to the States for a few weeks. Everytime I answered a question, I slightly nodded my head. And at the movie theatre, the clerk said "$6.00" and I pulled out a $10 bill and said "はい" when I handed to her. She was slightly confused.

What?! Seeing movies here costs $12! Man, I gotta move somewhere cheaper.

I was at work and a person came in who to look for something he lost. He passed by again and then I said ”ない?”。(I meant to say "so you didn't find it')/

I forgot the word for raccoon in English, yet I knew the corresponding kanji and word for it in Japanese.
All of this happened when I was talking to a Chinese friend about Pon Poko (the movie about raccoons) she didn't know how to say raccoon, neither did I, so I write out the kanji and shes like :S

theasianpleaser Wrote:About 6 weeks ago I went back to the States for a few weeks. Everytime I answered a question, I slightly nodded my head. And at the movie theatre, the clerk said "$6.00" and I pulled out a $10 bill and said "はい" when I handed to her. She was slightly confused.

I can soo relate to that, I was in Japan for only 2 weeks, but when I came back, the constant "はい" and nodding was burned into my brain. It took another couple of weeks to assume "normal western" mannerisms. I still say "は・・・？" instead of "eh?" though. ._.

Yeah, it's been over 1½ years since I came back from Japan and I still nod constantly. I doubt it will ever disappear.

liosama Wrote:I forgot the word for raccoon in English, yet I knew the corresponding kanji and word for it in Japanese.
All of this happened when I was talking to a Chinese friend about Pon Poko (the movie about raccoons) she didn't know how to say raccoon, neither did I, so I write out the kanji and shes like :S

You still seem to know the Japanese better^^. 'Raccoon' is a mistranslation of 狸, though a popular one. 'Raccoon dog' is correct--mostly because tanuki are actually canid, related to dogs, whereas they aren't closely related to raccoons at all. They just look like em.

I have the opposite problem: when I go back to Japan during breaks I am so used to speaking English that I always forget to speak in Japanese. I went into a McDonald's, and it looked so much like the ones here in California that I started ordering my food in English, and the girl began to call her manager over, hah

I sometimes give slight bows when interacting with retail workers and others. I usually check myself before it's more than a nod, but once I gave in and did a half bow and the other person automatically responded. That made for an awkward laugh. ;p I've never even been to Japan, I've just absorbed an ungodly amount of Japanese media for almost 10 years. Plus it's a holdover from a rigid martial arts instructor in youth, I suppose.

I'm also fond of the affirmative 'うん' or whatever. Oh, and I almost always subvocalize "いいえ" before saying 'No' aloud.

nest0r Wrote:I sometimes give slight bows when interacting with retail workers and others. I usually check myself before it's more than a nod, but once I gave in and did a half bow and the other person automatically responded. That made for an awkward laugh. ;p

I do the same thing, and frustratingly that has never gone away...

It happens with me but with English, sometimes I speak the English words and sometimes they aren't common words so people go like "huh?"lol

I remember when we met my neighbors, and instead of a handshake I bowed. XD My mother was like "o_O???"