Introduction
Our team for this project included Dylan Williams, CYW, Shaojie Deng, Hana Nguyen and Hayes Smith.
For this project, our main focus is to distinguish two different web pages between formal Japanese tone and casual Japanese tone. After the first meeting, the team members decided to choose Japanese Red Cross web page and Japanese Domino’s web page as our study subjects.
Japan Red Cross: http://www.jrc.or.jp/
Domino’s Japan: https://www.dominos.jp/
Context
| Japan Red Cross | Domino’s Japan | |
| Audience | Governments Organisations Adults Teenagers |
Young Japanese |
| Tone | Serious Formal |
Excited Uplifting Casual |
| Goal | Informative Inspire Actions Ignite Duty and Responsibility |
Promote Products |
| Word Choice | Large amount of Sino-Japanese for precise Information and Formality Native Japanese for balancing out Sino-Japanese Foreign Loan Words used only for numerals and バス |
Large amount of Foreign Load Words for style and western origin, especially for product names |
Both web pages are very opposite from each other. The Japanese Red Cross web page shows the contents about Japanese official medical affair and Japanese local medical news which is very formal Japanese language using. On the other hand, the domino’s represents their foods and delivery system which is more casual Japanese language using. The team focuses on analyzing the three types of words (NJ-Words, SJ-Words and loan words) using in both web pages. Also, the team studied about the functions and purposes of both web pages.
Japan Red Cross
病気やけがなどで輸血を必要としている患者さんの尊い生命を救うため、日本赤十字社では、16～69歳まで（※）の健康な方に献血のご協力をお願いしています。献血は、毎日稼働している献血バスと常設の施設で受け付けています。
（注）65歳以上の方の献血については、献血いただく方の健康を考慮し60～64歳の間に献血経験がある方に限ります。
¹Source
Colour Code: Native Japanese Sino Japanese Foreign Loan Words
The Blood Donation subpage of the red cross website was interesting because of the way it utilized formatting and word usage. When looking at the opening paragraph and examining each word separately, it’s obvious that the majority of words used are Sino-Japanese in origin, which make up over half of total words used. By contrast, Native Japanese forms were only used for a quarter of the content. Foreign Loanwords, those represented by カタカナ, made up little more than one tenth of total words used. When duplicate words are taken out, SJ forms drop down to 40% overall, which is still the highest amount used, exactly double the amount of NJ forms used.
The goal for these pages is to provide clear and easily understandable information to Japanese readers, which they were able to do by utilizing the social context of Sino and Native Japanese content words. Sino-Japanese words are often used for precision and formality. By using mostly Sino-Japanese content words and Roman numerals, the website is able to give clear and specific information about donating blood, while using the NJ forms to scaffold understanding for the reader. On top of that, they use interactive visuals that contain easily understood symbols (pictures of a bus, pictures of a building) to help readers find locations of blood donation buses or centers. For a website such as Red Cross whose audience is international and far-reaching, word choice is very important and a balance has to be found between technical language that explains the methods and reasoning behind their activities, and simple everyday expressions and choices that young people can comprehend.
こころのケア活動は、被災者 支援とともに行政職員等の支援者支援も実施しております。支援者支援として、安平町役場、むかわ町役場、むかわ町穂別総合支所、厚真町総合ケアセンターにリフレッシュルームを開設しました。北海道支部の防災ボランティアが救援物資の配分支援を行い、また、赤十字奉仕団が義援金の街頭受付や炊き出し支援を行っています。北海道ノルディックウォーキング赤十字奉仕団はエコノミークラス症候群の予防のため、避難所で被災者とポールストレッチング、ノルディックウォーキングを行っています。
赤十字は、アンリー・デュナン（スイス人：第一回ノーベル平和賞受賞者）が提唱した「人の命を尊重し、苦しみの中にいる者は、敵味方の区別なく救う」ことを目的とし、世界191の国と地域に広がる赤十字社・赤新月社のネットワークを生かして活動する組織です。
日本赤十字社はそのうちの一社であり、西南戦争における負傷者救護で初めての活動を行って以来、国内外における災害救護をはじめとし、苦しむ人を救うために幅広い分野で活動しています。
²Source
Colour Code: Native Japanese Sino Japanese Foreign Loan Words
The Red Cross About page follows the trend of using very few foreign loan words (only 6), mostly for naming other countries or important figures within the company who have western names. This usage is mostly unavoidable, therefore only a couple of words were written in katakana when a Native or Sino-Japanese equivalent was available. The purpose of the about page is to provide succinct information that offers background for the company’s goals while also inspiring those reading to take action or support their cause. Using too many foreign loan words may make the page feel less professional and less available for an older generation. Avoiding foreign loan words provides a more formal tone while keeping information direct and accessible to the intended audience.
An interesting note on the about page is its use of Native Japanese (NJ) over Sino-Japanese (SJ). Unlike the rest of the website, it contains a majority of NJ words (when comparing overall words, including duplicates) about 26 NJ words are used in comparison to the 24 SJ words. This could be explained by other pages having the main goal of providing concise information, while the main goal of the about page is inspiring action in its readers. When comparing without duplicates the numbers even out (21 NJ words to 22 SJ words). Despite this, the percentage of NJ words in the about page is much higher than that of other pages from the Red Cross (only around 20-30% compared to around 45%).
Summary
Sino-Japanese, or kanji, has a long-lasting image of being professional and contains a formal tone within. According to the extracts mentioned above from the Japan Red Cross’ webpage, the amount of Sino-Japanese words is astonishing. Furthermore, according to a snapshot from the webpage, it is clear that a lot of hyperlinks so respective subpages are described in Sino-Japanese or kanji for the context, and are extremely clean, precise, and seriousness. Moreover, there are also scenarios where foreign loan words could appear often, especially during circumstances to mark foreign country names, equipment, and organizations. Since the Red Cross is an international organization, the essence of foreign loan words appearing is inevitable. Lastly, it is understandable on the reason Japan Red Cross chose this specific style for designing and formatting their website in such style.
Domino’s Japan
The second analysis is on Dominos Japan. Because it is a popular food chain around the world, this site uses a mix of Foreign Loanwords (FL) since the company did originate in the U.S, with a mix of Native Japanese words (NJ). As explained in class, FL incorporates western words. It helps promote a more westernized yet professional look which is commonly used as a great advertising approach to appeal to Japanese buyers.
On one of their web pages where they promote their new “Four Italy” pizzas, the use of FL is prominent when they were naming the Pizzas, for example, the first pizza’s name is “クワトロ・究極イタリアン” which translates to Quattro Ultimate Italian pizza. With this name, we can see the blend of using both Sino Japanese (究極) and FL (クワトロ), which is 4 in Italian and (イタリアン)which is Italian in English. Other words found on this page as part of the pizza names were “パルミジャーノ・レッジャーノ” which translates to Parmesan, Reggiano which are 2 ingredients commonly used on actual Italian pizza. These simple yet appealing words can draw in customers to try these new specials.
Shown below are other examples of their Pizza names using FL (ex. “Margarita”, “Quattro Giant”, “Meat Lover”)
In one of the rolling advertisement on the website; Japan domino put the word “アツアツを玄関まで、ミッション20ミニッツ” (meaning hot pizza to your door, mission 20 minutes) instead of using traditional Japanese words like “あなたの玄関まで、ただ20分” (meaning it takes 20 minutes to your door). Then as they explain the steps on how the pizza is prepared, shown on step 2 it reads “ピザマイクスピード&クオリテ” which translates to Pizza making speed & quality. Here they also use a more NJ approach like “高品質のピザを作る”, they decided to make it a lot more simple to translate to readers. Then on step 3 it reads “デリバリーテクノロジー” (Delivery technology). The Japan domino’s making their delivery sound like a special operation making the advertisement more attractive to the young buyers.
Vocabulary From 2 Website
| Red Cross | Translation | Domino’s | Translation | |
| 和語 Native Japanese Vocabularies |
けが している 尊い 救うため お願いしています 受け付けています |
Injury Are Doing Precious For Saving I’m asking you Accepting |
お店を探す お持ち帰り 知らない 損してる 焼きたて お近くのお店 |
Find the store Takeout Don’t Know Lost of Something Fresh coming from stove The Store around |
| 漢語 Sino-Japanese Vocabularies |
病気 輸血 患者 生命 日本赤十字社 健康 献血 |
Disease Transfusion Patient Life Japan Red Cross Health Blood Donation |
最新 情報 配達注文 最強 保証 秘伝 |
The Latest Information Delivery Order The Best Guarantee Secret |
| 外来語 Foreign Loanwords |
バス ケアセンタ ボランティア リフレッシュルーム ノルディックウォーキング エコノミークラス症候群 |
Bus Care Centre Volunteer Refresh Room Nordic Walking Traveler thrombosis |
ピザ メニュー アプリ クーポン ミッション ミニッツ ドミノズ・デラックス パルミジャーノ サービス プライバシー ポレシー サイトマップ アフィリエイトプログラム |
Pizza Menu Application Coupon Mission Minutes Dominos Deluxe Parmesan Service Site Map |