Disclaimer: this is based on the anime/manga series Death Note, no copyright infringement
etc. intended.
Most of the time, we hear about how English takes words from
other languages, but we don’t always hear about how other languages take words
from English. There’s one anime in particular that I like to watch called Death Note, and the nickname of the one
of the main characters is “Kira”, which was taken from the English word
“killer”. The reason for this: a strange notebook with the power to murder that
falls from the sky. A seventeen-year-old honor student picks it up and,
thinking that it’s a prank, he dismisses it at first. A short while later,
though, after reading the instructions in the front of the book, he thinks
“that a prank this intricate can’t be too bad”, but he decides to write the
name of a criminal just in case he accidentally murders someone. Long story
short, the notebook works, the teen goes nuts trying to rid the world of all
criminals, and earns the name of Kira, of Killer.
Why not just leave it killer? Well, Japanese doesn’t have an
“L” sound, so it gets changed to an “R” sound. For example, my name (Elizabeth)
gets changed to Erizabesu. Neat, huh?
The θ diphthong doesn’t exist either, so that changes a bit. The name of the
anime mentioned above changes from Death
Note to Desu Noto, due to the
lack of θ.
To sum it up, even when taking words directly from one
language to another, there can sometimes be a big change in pronunciation.
(265 words)
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