Words Japanese has borrowed from other languages are called gairaigo (外来語) and are written in the angular katakana script. Many come from English — but they've often shifted in meaning, been clipped short, or been recombined into "Japanese-made English" (wasei-eigo). That makes them surprisingly tricky, even for native English speakers.
You'd think English-derived words would be the easy part of Japanese. The catch is that they don't always mean what they look like. A マンション (manshon) is not a mansion — it's an ordinary apartment building. バイキング (baikingu), "Viking," means an all-you-can-eat buffet. Pronunciation shifts too, since Japanese fits every sound into its own syllable system. Treat gairaigo as new vocabulary, not as English in disguise.
| Katakana | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| コーヒー | kōhī | coffee |
| テレビ | terebi | television (clipped) |
| パソコン | pasokon | personal computer (clipped + blended) |
| スマホ | sumaho | smartphone (clipped) |
| レストラン | resutoran | restaurant |
| エレベーター | erebētā | elevator |
| スーパー | sūpā | supermarket (clipped) |
| アルバイト | arubaito | part-time job (from German Arbeit) |
These are the ones that catch learners out. The katakana looks familiar but the meaning has drifted.
| Katakana | Looks like | Actually means |
|---|---|---|
| マンション | mansion | apartment / condominium |
| バイキング | Viking | all-you-can-eat buffet |
| クレーム | claim | a customer complaint |
| サービス | service | often "free of charge / on the house" |
| テンション | tension | energy level or mood ("high tension" = excited) |
| スマート | smart | slim / slender (not clever) |
| ナイーブ | naive | sensitive / delicate (not foolish) |
| ジュース | juice | any soft drink, including soda |
These are coined in Japan from English parts, so they won't be understood by English speakers as-is.
| Katakana | Literal parts | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| サラリーマン | salary + man | a male office worker |
| ガソリンスタンド | gasoline + stand | gas / petrol station |
| コンセント | (from "concentric") | an electrical outlet |
| ノートパソコン | note + pasokon | laptop computer |
| ベビーカー | baby + car | baby stroller / pram |
| ホッチキス | (a brand name) | a stapler |
| フリーター | free + Arbeiter | someone living on part-time work |
| ペーパードライバー | paper + driver | a licensed driver who never drives |
| Katakana | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| チケット | chiketto | ticket |
| カレンダー | karendā | calendar |
| ニュース | nyūsu | news |
| レシート | reshīto | receipt |
| アンケート | ankēto | questionnaire (from French enquête) |
| パン | pan | bread (from Portuguese pão) |
| イメージ | imēji | image / impression |
| スケジュール | sukejūru | schedule |
Because the sounds are remapped into Japanese syllables, say each word aloud until the Japanese rhythm feels natural — that also trains your ear to catch them in speech. And flag the false friends specifically: those are the ones worth drilling, because guessing from English will steer you wrong. Quiz-style review, where you're asked the real meaning, is the fastest way to separate the false friends from the safe ones.
Related: How to Study Kanji · Four-Character Idioms (Yojijukugo) · Japanese Proverbs (Kotowaza)