日本NHK因过度使用英文词汇被观众起诉

日本一名71岁的男子起诉日本广播协会（NHK），称该机构的新闻和娱乐节目中过多使用英语外来词，使其感情受到伤害，并向该机构索赔140万日元（约合人民币88213元）。这名男子为保护日语组织的成员，他的代理律师表示，他主要担心日本过度美国化。二战后，英语在日本得到广泛普及，美国流行文化也成为日本民众追随的对象，很多外来词汇也由此进入到现代日语词汇中，比如trouble，system，risk等。这名男子指责日本广播协会很不负责任地使用这些外来词汇，而拒绝使用日语中原有的词汇。他表示，日本社会越来越美国化，但是日本广播协会作为国家级传播机构不应该跟随潮流，而应该坚决以优先使用日语为原则，这样才能保护日本文化。

A disgruntled viewer is suing Japan's national broadcaster for "mental distress" caused by an excessive use of words borrowed from English.

Hoji Takahashi, 71, is seeking 1.4 million yen ($14,300) in damages from NHK.

"The basis of his concern is that Japan is being too Americanized," his lawyer Mutsuo Miyata told the news agency AFP.

English became more prevalent in Japan after World War II during the US-led occupation.

This was followed by a growing interest in American pop culture.

The country's modern vocabulary is littered with borrowed words, many of which are changed to fit the Japanese phonic structure.

Mr Takahashi, who is a member of a campaign group supporting the Japanese language, highlighted words such as "toraburu" (trouble), "risuku" (risk) and "shisutemu" (system) in NHK's news and entertainment programs.

He accused NHK of irresponsibility by refusing to use native Japanese equivalents.

"With Japanese society increasingly Americanized, Takahashi believes that NHK, as Japan's national broadcaster, shouldn't go with the trend, but remain determined to prioritize the use of Japanese, which he thinks would go a long way toward protecting Japanese culture," Mr Miyata told the Japan Times on Wednesday.

Mr Takahashi filed his complaint on Tuesday with the Nagoya District Court in the central Chubu region of Japan, the newspaper said.

NHK said it would not comment until it had studied the legal documents.

Other examples of English words often used in Japanese include:

terebi (TV)

rajio (radio)

konpuraiansu (compliance)

koraboreeshon (collaboration)

dejitaru (digital)

taoru (towel)

Vocabulary is also borrowed from other foreign languages. The German "arbeit" becomes "arubaito" to mean work, and the Portuguese "pao" is used as "pan" for bread.

Japanese words used in the English language include "haiku", "origami" and "Bonsai".

Other commonly used "loanwords" are the German "kindergarten", "zeitgeist" and "blitz" as well as French terms such as "faux-pas", "decor" and "cafe".