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Dear Fellow Earthlings,
I enjoyed watching sumo on television today. It is interesting how international sumo has become, with wrestlers from such countries as Mongolia, Georgia, Egypt, and Brazil making names for themselves. In particular, Mongolian wrestlers have have made their mark, with the three “yokozuna” (“grand champions” or top sumo wrestlers) all being from Mongolia – and with one of those yokozuna (named Hakuho) now tied with the sumo legend Taiho for most sumo tournamentvictories: 32.
Indeed, sumo was become quite internationalized. Glaringly apparent, however, is the absence of any people whose native language is English among the sumo wrestler ranks.
Why then, did the Japanese announcers today use the following English words as they talked about the events of today’s sumo matches: training, timing, speed, veteran, rival, interview?
Rather they should have used the Japanese terms 訓練 (“training”), 間合い (“timing”), 速度(“speed”), 熟練者 (“veteran”), 競争相手 (“rival”), and 質問 (“interview”)! ((For those who don’t/can’t read Chinese characters, “訓練”is (in Roman letters) “kunren”, "間合い" is “maai”,"速度" is “sokudo”, "熟練者" is “jukurensha", "競争相手" is “kyousouaite”, and "質問" is “shitsumon”.))
Better yet, why didn’t they acknowledge the recent dominance of Mongolian wrestlers in sumo by using the Mongolian language equivalents of “training” (tsurgalt), “timing” (tsag xugatsaa), “speed” (xUrd), “veteran” (axmad daichiyn), “rival” (örsöldögch), and “interview” (yariltslaga)?
I mean, honestly, why push this English thing to the point of being ludicrous? There ARE other languages in this world besides English, you know.
Even as I do my best to support English in the United States, in England, in Canada (not counting Quebec), in Australia, in New Zealand (while acknowledging that various aboriginal languages in Australia and Maori in New Zealand need to be protected – as do the Amerindian languages of North America), and in the Falklands, I do not see any necessity (or merit) in adding each and every English word and expression to Japanese -- especially as regards something so precious as the jargon used in the world of Japanese sumo wrestling!
I just hope the time does not come when even the term “yokozuna” is eschewed in favor of “grand champion”!
Better that the Mongolian term “(Ikh bökhiin avarga”) should be used instead!
Steve Walker, Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.