WASEI-EIGO

are Japanese pseudo-Anglicisms: English constructions not in use in Anglophone countries nor by English native speakers, but only by speakers of Japanese. A more general term for made-in-Japan foreign words is ''wasei-gairaigo'', which usually applies to words made from European languages. The term ''"Japanese English"'' (ジャパニーズイングリシュ) has become the common moniker for these words inside of Japan meaning people are indeed aware that there are terms used only as Japanese vernacular. However, the Japanese have difficulty in the distinction between these words and true Anglophonic English.
One example is the word ''desk'' (デスク ''desuku''). It seems like perfectly good English, but in Japan, it often refers to a title for a person. ''Tanaka-desk'' would be a reporter or editor in charge of a department at a newspaper (for example, the city desk). Wasei-eigo words can form compounds with Japanese words, for example, ''okushon'' (億ション) combines ''oku'', meaning hundred million, with "mansion" to form a new word meaning "luxury apartment". This is actually a pun, since the word "man" means "ten thousand" in Japanese: "oku-shon" is ten thousand times more than "man-shon". Sometimes, two English words with their normal meanings will be combined to form a new compound word. One famous instance is ''famicom'' (ファミコン ''famikon''), a portmanteau of "family" and "computer", meaning a video game system (especially, but not necessarily, the Famicom, known to the rest of the world as the Nintendo Entertainment System).
Some wasei-eigo have in turn been borrowed as pseudo-Anglicisms in other countries. For example, 아파트 ''ap'at'ŭ'' in Korean is clearly borrowed from the Japanese word ''apāto'', not the English word ''apartment''.
For an extensive list of terms, see the List of Gairaigo and Wasei-eigo terms.

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★ Engrish

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★ Examples