Announcement: The Japanese English of the Year 2021

The Association for the Improvement of Public English in Japan (a.k.a. NNE; Chairperson: Chikako Tsuruta) conducted a public poll for the period from November 23 through 30 to select words that represent the year 2021 from among several made-in-Japan English terms, or wasei eigo, that are not used in English-speaking countries, as well as English that may be difficult for English speakers to understand due to unnatural translations. As a result of the public vote, we are pleased to announce that the following words have been selected as "Japan’s English of the Year 2021."

Reflecting the COVID-19 situation and digital transformation, "with-corona" has been selected for the made-in-Japan English category, and “new-style corona virus” and “Digital Agency” have been voted first place for the "English that may be difficult to understand” category.

1. Japanese English category: “with-corona”
2. Unintelligible English category: "new-style corona virus" and
    “Digital Agency”

Prior to the public poll, NNE had called for nominations of the words that represent the year 2021 from participants and supporters of its activities who live in Japan and abroad. Out of 77 words nominated, NNE selected four (4) finalists in each category, and the word that received the most votes on Twitter was announced as "Japan's English of the Year 2021."

Japanese English Category:

In the Japanese English (wasei eigo) category, "with-corona," a word that symbolizes the COVID-19 crisis has been chosen for first place in both the Japanese and English votes (i.e., a total of 547 votes, of which 418 were cast in Japanese and 129 in English).

The term "with-corona" is not used in English-speaking countries to refer to a way of life in which people live with coronaviruses while taking measures to prevent infection. The usage of the combination of the words "with" and "corona" as a noun or adjective, such as "surviving the with-corona era" or "exit strategies for with-corona and after-corona," are something unique to Japan, and has been seen in the media almost every day for nearly two years now. Although euphemisms such as "in these difficult times" or “in times of crisis” are often seen to describe the COVID-19 situation in the English-speaking world, major English newspapers and magazines have recently started to write a phrase “with corona” as an adverbial phrase modifying a verb: e.g., “How the world learns to live with Covid-19 - From pandemic to epidemic” (The Economist); “The Delta Variant and Beyond: Learning to Live with Covid” (Wall Street Journal)

In second place, "mount" (or “take a mount”) is an expression that means showing off one's superiority over others. For example, when your friend proudly comes to tell you that he/she got a perfect score on a test, you might say, "Don't mount me just because you got a good score.” Equivalent expressions in English might be, “Don’t try to outdo me,” or “Don’t try to one-up me.”

The third-ranked "Myna Point" is a term coined by the Japanese government, combining the Japanese taxpayer identification number called “My Number” (abbreviated to “Myna”) and “point”, meaning reward points. The Myna Point program is a consumption stimulus policy and reward program implemented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) to promote the use of My Number card and electronic payments.

While My Number is equivalent to Social Security Numbers (SSN) in the U.S. and the National Insurance Number in the U.K., it is not currently very popular or used very often in Japan. In machine translations, Myna Point is sometimes mistranslated as "minor point," or "insignificant," and is one of the most difficult words for non-native Japanese speakers to understand.

The fourth-ranked word, "volumy" is used to mean voluminous or a large amount. It is an adjective created by adding “-y” to the word “volume,” meaning quantity, but it is a word made in Japan that does not exist in English.

The Unintelligible English Category:

In the Unintelligible English category, the results differed between the votes in Japanese and in English: Digital Agency won first place in the Japanese voting, and new-style corona virus was voted number one in the English voting. (i.e., a total of 361 votes, of which 280 were cast in Japanese and 81 in English).

The top vote-getter in Japanese is Digital Agency. It came in third in the English vote. The meaning of “Digital Agency” is not an agency to promote digitalization but an agency that works digitally. The term “Digital Promotion Agency” could be used to describe an agency that promotes digital transformation. The Australian government, for example, has an agency named the Digital Transformation Agency for this purpose.

New-style corona virus was voted number one in English. In Japanese, it came in a close third. COVID-19 is the term commonly used in English-speaking countries. It’s been nearly two years since the infection spread, so the word "new" is not added to it anymore. But if you need to add “new” to it to explain the history or another such point, then use "novel coronavirus" with corona and virus treated as one word.

The electronic bulletin board at a bus stop

The second-place winner in the Japanese poll and the fourth-place winner in English is “4 bus stops ago,” an expression used to indicate the location of the waiting bus on the electronic bulletin board at a bus stop. The word "ago" can be used for the past, but not for physical or spatial distance. Bus stops and train stations in other countries usually indicate the time required for arrival, such as "in 2 minutes," and very rarely the number of stops.

The fourth place in the Japanese poll and second place in English went to “Close,” which means "Closed," and is commonly used in English-speaking countries.

In response to the results, Chikako Tsuruta, the Chairperson of the Association for the Improvement of Public English in Japan (NNE), commented:

“The results have reflected exactly what’s going on in the world: the COVID disaster and digital transformation. It is a characteristic of the Japanese language that can freely borrow and incorporate foreign words into it to mean them in a different way. There are many cases where “English made in Japan" often causes misunderstanding and confusion because they are not real English in many cases.

In recent years, many documents, signs, websites, and the like have been written in both English and Japanese in public places. But there are many cases where unnatural English translations cause misunderstandings and confusion, even though the original purpose of the English translation was to convey the meaning to non-native speakers of Japanese in an easy-to-understand manner.

We hope that the selection of the "Japanese English Word of the Year 2021" will provide an opportunity to make English notation in Japan even easier to understand.”

About NNE

The Association for the Improvement of Public English in Japan (NNE) was established in 2020 with the aim of improving "Japanese English" in public places into understandable English. It is chaired by Chikako Tsuruta (professor at Tokyo Woman's Christian University and professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies), a leading figure in simultaneous interpreting between Japanese and English.

Through symposiums, lectures, blog posts, and communication to domestic and foreign media, NNE is making proposals to the national government and local authorities to improve English notation in Japan.

NNE’s blog: https://note.com/nihonnoeigo