Architectural Japanese English
Janglish for architects
How could you say these things in (British and/ or American) English and/ or explain these things to British or American people? Choose one, explain it the best that you can, see if your partner has any questions or comments, discuss for longer if you like, then take turns doing the same with other lines from below.
- 2LDK
- air con
- alumi
- apaato/ apart
- B2
- baby bed
- bed town
- centi
- cooler
- culture centre
- dump car
- dust box
- dining kitchen
- flooring
- (hotel) front
- game centre
- Hello Work
- interphone
- live house
- living kitchen
- log house
- model house/ model room
- one room mansion
- roof balcony
- (alumi) sasshu
- sharp pen
- show window
- system kitchen
- unit bath
- washlet
When your teacher stops you, ask about any which you don’t know the English word for, can’t explain, etc.
What are the differences in meaning between Japanese and (British and/ or American) English of the words on each line here? Choose one, explain the Japanese and English meanings, see if your partner has any questions or comments, discuss for longer if you like, then take turns doing the same.
- apart
- blinds
- building
- bungalow
- consent
- driveway
- flooring
- gondola
- ground
- kilo
- knob
- lift
- living
- mansion
- reform
- skyline
- stove
- tenant
- terrace
- veranda
When your teacher stops you, ask about any which you aren’t sure about.
Janglish for architects guide for teachers
- air con (ea kon, short for air conditioner) – a machine that both cools and heats air, so different from a “cooler”
- alumi (arumi) – short for aluminium
- apart (apaato, short for apartment) – wooden two story block of flats, as opposed to a “mansion”
- baby bed (beibi beddo) – cot
- barracks (barakku) – decrepit buildings
- bed town (beddo taun) – commuter town
- blind (buraindo) – shutters
- buil (biru – short for building) – office building (not buildings more generally, which is tatemono)
- bungalow (bangaroo) – cabin
- centi (senchi) – short for centimetre
- cloak (kurooku) – cloakroom, not a cape
- cock (kokku) – tap for water or gas
- concours (konkooru- from French) – competition
- consent (konsento) – electric socket, never used with the meaning of giving consent
- cooler (kuura) – an air conditioner that only cools the air and doesn’t heat, so different from “air con”
- corner (koona) – section of shop or magazine, as in “cash corner” (place with ATMs)
- culture centre (karucha sentaa) – cultural centre, e.g. local place for adult education
- depart (depaato) – short for department store, and the full expression is never used. Not used for departments of a company.
- dining kitchen (dainingu kitchin) – a combined kitchen and dining room (usually a sign of a small flat rather than of modern open plan design)
- driveway (doraibuuei) – highway/ speedway
- dump car (dampu kaa) – dump truck
- dust box (dasuto bokkusu) – trash can/ bin
- echo (eko) – the acoustics of a space
- flooring (furooringu) – wooden flooring
- foundation (faundeishon) – make up only, not building etc.
- front (furonto) –hotel reception/ front desk
- game centre (geimu sentaa) – amusement arcade/ video arcade
- gird (gaado) – girder bridge
- gom (gomu, from Dutch) – rubber and rubber band
- health centre (herusu sentaa) – recreation centre, rather than a clinic
- Hello Work (hero waaku) – the official and most commonly used name for government job centres
- interphone (intaahon) – intercom
- kilo (kiiro) – short for both kilometre and kilogramme
- kiosk (kiyosuku) – kiosk/ station shop (i.e. also something you can walk into)
- knob (nobu) – any kind of door handle, not just a circular one
- konbinat (konbinaato – from Russian) – industrial complex
- kraan (karan – from Dutch) – tap
- lift (rifuto) – only for cargo, giving elevator (for passengers) and lift two different meanings in Japanese
- live house (raibu hausu) – a kind of live music venue
- living (ribingu) – short for living room
- living kitchen (ribingu kitchin) – open plan living room/ kitchen
- log house (rogu hausu) – log cabin
- mansion – a slightly higher class of concrete apartment block, so not a large house
- milli (miri) – short for both millimetre and milligrams
- office buil (ofisu biru) – office building, often shortened to ‘biru’, as this only refers to office buildings in Japanese (the Japanese word tatemono being more general)
- one room mansion (wan ruumu manshon) – studio apartment (manshon being an apartment building)
- pension (penshon) – a Western-style minshuku, meaning basically a B&B
- reception (resepushon) – formal dinner, not desk you see when you enter (that’s “uketsuke” for offices and “front” for hotels)
- reform
- reform (rifoomu) – alteration or repair, e.g. of building or clothes
- renewal (rinyuuaru) – store renovations
- ropeway – cable car (in Japanese “cable car” is only used for one that runs on rails)
- scramble (sukuaramburu) – a crossing where pedestrians can cross from all sides of a crossroads at the same time, like the famous one outside Shibuya station
- sharp pen (shaa pen, short for sharp pencil) – mechanical pencil/ automatic pencil
- skate rink (sukeeto rinku) – skating rink
- skyline (sukairain) – scenic mountain highway
- sofa (sofaa) – sofa and armchair
- stove (sutoobu) – (gas, oil or electric) heater/ fire, so not connected to cooking
- suite room (suito rummu) – a hotel suite
- super (suupa) – short for supermarket (the longer form exists but is rarely used)
tenant (tenant) – for rent (often seen on signs in windows) - terrace (terasu) – terrace/ balcony, i.e. often smaller than a terrace would be in English
- toile (toire) – toilet (note the missing t sound)
- trailer house (toreeraa hausu) – trailer/ mobile home
- trunk room (toranku ruumu) – storage room, e.g. a place where you pay to put things into storage
- unit bath (yunitto basu) – modular bathroom/ prefabricated all in one bathroom
- veranda (beranda) – usually more like a balcony
- washlet (uoshuretto, from wash + toilet) – combined toilet and bidet
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