Easy Japanese in Focus as Way to Deliver Info to Foreigners

Tokyo, Sept. 1 (Jiji Press)–Easy Japanese is in the spotlight as a way to disseminate information to foreigners in Japan, especially at the time of disasters such as a recent powerful earthquake that hit the southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto. According to a survey targeting foreigners living in Tokyo, 41.3 pct said they want to read information written in easy Japanese, higher than 35.9 pct seeking information in English. “It’s probably because the nationalities of foreigners living in Japan have diversified, and fewer people are from English-speaking countries and regions,” said Nobuko Inoue of Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation Tsunagari, which conducted the survey and works to promote and raise awareness about easy Japanese. The crux of giving out information in easy Japanese is to avoid using onomatopoeia, mimetic words, words adopted from foreign languages and ambiguous expressions, and to use short and clear sentences, according to the foundation. For example, “kyanseru,” which derives from the English word cancel, can be replaced with “yameru” in easy Japanese. “Moraeru,” meaning “you can get,” can be used for “teikyo-suru,” which means to provide. In Kumamoto, people from Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, account for more than half of foreign residents. “We have many people whose native languages are not English,” an official of the Kumamoto prefectural government’s international affairs division said. “We are trying to provide information in easy Japanese rather than in English.” On July 29, the day after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake, which measured up to 7, the highest level on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, WizTry, an information technology company in Kumamoto, created a website to give affected people necessary information, which includes an easy Japanese page for foreign residents. The page for foreigners says, for example: “Mizu wo kubaru basho ga arimasu. Okane wa irimasen,” which means there are places where you can get water and no money is needed. WizTry President Kotaro Suematsu said he hopes the company’s easy Japanese page will help foreigners who tend to be left out of information. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]