Miho: It refers to words that have been adopted from foreign languages. You know they are written in katakana, don’t you? Tom: How many katakana words are there in Japanese? Miho: Though their pronunciation is altered to suit the Japanese tongue, it is said that they make up about 20% of the Japanese language. Tom: That’s a lot! But I guess it makes sense, that’s why we are surrounded by so many terms. Bag, shoes, suit, necktie, table, coffee... Miho: Words like coffee, which were not originally part of the Japanese lexicon, are used as is, but in many cases Japanese original terms are used alongside katakana words. Tom: Kutsu and shyu-zu (shoes), or mado and uindou (window) ... so many. Tom: I heard that katakana words are more frequently used while Japanese original words gradually fall out of use. Is this true? Miho: That’s right. Until some time ago a necklace used to be a kubikazari, and living room, ima, but only a few people use these terms nowadays. Tom: It’s very helpful for English speakers, isn’t it? Miho: It is said that about three thousand English words are used as katakana words in daily life. Recently the word “blackout” has been used instead of teiden in the media. Tom: It’s likely that we will be able to communicate by stringing together katakana words in the near future. Miho: I think this has already happened. I often hear conversations like this: “dezaina- (designer) no ga-rufurendo (girlfriend) noba-sude- (birthday) ni pa-ru (pearl) no nekkuresu (necklace) wo puresento (present) shita.