The Japanese make heavy use of foreign loan words, usually borrowed from English, but since Japanese grammar differs from other languages, something is needed to “bridge” the two…and conveniently, there are two such grammatical aids built right into Japanese. The first is the particle na which allows an adjective to be plugged into a Japanese sentence without breaking any grammatical rules, and you can hear phrases like surimu na onna (a slim, slender woman), hansamu na otoko (a handsome man), and torendii na dorama (the latest trendy drama on television). I’ve even heard the word “epoch-making” used in this fashion — as in, epokkumeekingu na ibento, referring to an event that is truly Earth-shattering in nature. The other tool to help foreign words be used in Japanese is the catch-all verb suru which means “to do.” Words you might hear in Japanese include getto suru (GET-toh suru, to get or find something), doraibu suru (doh-RAH-ee-bu suru, to go for a drive), kamingu auto suru (kah-min-GU ah-OO-toh suru, lit. to do “coming out” or to come out of the closet about something), and of course, sekkusu suru (to have, well, you know). The staff at J-List uses lots of English in their Japanese, too, and you can hear terms like sukyan suru (to scan something) or pikku suru (to pick products in preparation for shipping) being used everyday.
Marisa goes for a drive.
