1.About our January 17th Show on #CES2020
The theme for the January 17th episode of Sekai e Hasshin! SNS Eigojutsu on NHK E-Tele was #CES2020. Picking up from where we left off last week on our #AI episode, we featured more tweets about tech news coming out of CES, the world’s largest tech event.
Exclusive: Intel packs one enormous foldable screen into new PC prototype #CES2020https://t.co/wmxPksRROS
— CNET (@CNET) January 7, 2020
In studio, commentator Daisuke Furuta talked about the changes that 5G—which is scheduled to start service in Japan in the spring of 2020—will bring to our lives. Resident English instructor Naito-san brought out a smart speaker and talked about speech recognition technology, which Hide-san was more than happy to play around with. Our MC, Haruhi-san, a self-admitted meat lover, expressed her skepticism about the latest plant-based meat substitute to come out of California.
As for me, I was skeptical about an AI-powered smart suitcase that is able to follow you around like your shadow. As someone who grew up in the U.S., I was taught from a young age to never, ever let personal belongings and luggage leave my sight in public spaces. Even if the suitcase is equipped with GPS and an alarm that is supposed to go off when there is more than a certain distance between you and your luggage, I can’t help but feel like using such a suitcase would be tempting fate—as if you had a sign on your luggage that said “steal me". And taking a step back, how disconcerting is the idea of an AI equipped product being able to “tail" you so closely? Those like me, who are skeptical about new tech, are what are called “late adopters".
Naturally, our focus was on new, cutting-edge technologies; as a result the English vocabulary we looked at in this episode consisted of tech-related buzzwords. In this column, I would like to give a more thorough exploration of the English that we featured on the show.
2.Savoring Alphabet Soup
So many ICT-related proper nouns are commonly known in their abbreviated forms: CES (Consumer Electronics Show), AI (artificial intelligence), PC (personal computer), CPU (central processing unit), RAM(random access memory), USB(universal serial bus), HDD(hard disk drive), HTTP(hypertext transfer protocol), LAN (local area network), CD(compact disc), DVD(digital video disc).ICT (information and communication technology) is another one. Scientific, technical, explanatory terms endear themselves to the general public by reducing themselves to their initial letters.
Abbreviations that are comprised of initial letters fall into one of two categories. Acronyms are pronounced as words, i.e. RAM or LAN. Acronyms outside of ICT include JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
When each initial letter is pronounced separately, that abbreviation is called an initialism. Initialisms include AI, CPU, USB, and, of course, IT and ICT. Outside of ICT, terms like FBI, CIA, NHK, and BBC are initialisms. As Furuta-san said at the top of the program, CES is an initialism, not an acronym; the same goes for VIP, which Japanese people love to pronounce “vip" (rhymes with“rip").
AV is another initialism, usually short for audio visual or audio/video. (In Japan, many men would recognize AV as an abbreviation for adult video, but in the U.S. adult videos are usually known as porn.) The AV we talked about on the show was short for autonomous vehicle. If you are unclear about what “AV" you are talking about, it can lead to some unfortunate misunderstandings.
The more abbreviations are used in everyday conversation, the more confusing things get. What’s more, being aware of whether an abbreviation is an acronym or an initialism can either make you look completely with the times or totally behind them. Sentences and explanations whose meaning is difficult to discern due to the heavy use of such abbreviations are referred to in English as alphabet soup. Acronyms are used to make the concepts and products coming out of the ICT industry easier to swallow for the general consumer. But unlike Campbell’s famous chicken alphabet soup, which is great for when you’re feeling under the weather, linguistic alphabet soup can cause confusion and disorientation. In the digital age, the prevalence of acronyms has become a concern not only for English learners but with English natives as well.
3.The Field of ICT is Littered With Jargon
In LANGUAGE & EDUCATION #040, I wrote about how adjectives like cutting-edge and innovative are thrown about haphazardly in marketing and tech-related copy.
Innovators showcase their latest gadgets, apps and cutting-edge products at the annual tech show in Las Vegas. Follow our #CES2020 coverage: https://t.co/XM08NPuMQ4 pic.twitter.com/hDdNFrZ6WW
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2020
At one time or another, you may have asked yourself about what it actually means to be the latest, or exactly what makes something cutting-edge. And what company is going to admit that their product is anything less than innovative? Overuse of these terms have rendered them almost meaningless, except in that they seem to indicate what products or brands to stay away from; after all, cutting-edge implies that a product is unrefined and that its effects in a real world setting have not really been truly examined or experienced, and are most certainly not understood. This type of hyperbole is almost always used in conjunction with jargon.
ICT jargon includes words like cloud, cookie, and firewall, which mean completely different things in the real world as they do in tech-savvy settings. The aforementioned alphabet soup acronyms also fall into ICT jargon.
“Autonomous vehicle" is another jargon expression in the sense that it is often used interchangeably with similar terms like self-driving car and driverless. But it is extremely important to be able to recognize the difference in these terms.
inspired by AVATAR: The name of the groundbreaking concept vehicle stands not only for the close collaboration in developing the show car together with the AVATAR team but also for ADVANCED VEHICLE TRANSFORMATION.https://t.co/ZmLk4yKssh#CES2020 #MercedesBenz #VISIONAVTR pic.twitter.com/r6NG6BpbRB
— Mercedes-Benz (@MercedesBenz) January 11, 2020
Autonomous means “having the freedom to act independently", or in the case of autonomous cars, “a device capable of operating without direct human control". In other words, autonomous is a term that describes the functionality of an AI-equipped car. Self-driving, on the other hand, emphasizes the “without direct human control" aspect. It is based on the premise that up until now, most machines and robots required human intervention. Finally, driverless implies that there is no driver, but technically speaking, the driving is being done by an AI.
Additional terms like semi-autonomous, partially self-driving, and driver-assist feature only make things more confusing. Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors equips its cars with its proprietary technology “Tesla Autopilot". But autopilot is traditionally used in reference to airplanes, not cars. And unlike the auto in autonomous, both autopilot and Tesla Autopilot are pilot/driver-assist features, meaning that a human must be present and alert, ready to take control of the wheel—or the yoke—at any time.
If you let words like this mislead you, you could inadvertently relinquish control to an AI that is not equipped to take full control in the first place. This is precisely the lesson we should take from the fatal Tesla crashes in recent years.
Words are a matter of life and death. Rather than blindly accept the hyperbole and jargon used to describe ICT-related products and technologies as fact, it is important to exercise our critical skills to identify the real issues that such language blurs.
4.What We Can Learn From Jargon
Because jargon is specialized terminology used in specific fields among specific circles, it is not meant to be easily understood by third parties. Rather, its purpose is to facilitate smooth communication and foster a sense of camaraderie among members. If anything, jargon is purposely conceived to be difficult to decipher by any outsiders.
This means that someone who uses jargon outside of the relevant context is not serious about communicating their ideas clearly. To put it another way, their only concern is to look like they are in the know, or to self-aggrandize at the expense of others. The worst cases are when the speaker themselves do not fully understand the meaning of the terms they are throwing around. Jargon can be a serious nuisance not only for language learners, but for the general public as well.
In Japan, many people seem to think that injecting everyday conversation with jargon, buzzwords, and katakana loanwords is hip, or worse yet, a sign of intellect. How many Japanese readers hear terms like アグリー (agree) and コミット (commit) and <誰々>マター (matter, used in a sense similar to concern, as in “that matter concerns X") thrown about the office on a daily basis? And I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone ask what neta a sushi chef recommends (neta is an argot word used by sushi chefs, the inverse of the word customers should use, tane) or ask for agari (an argot word for green tea, served at the end of a meal when a customer is almost ready to leave) at a sushi restaurant. Words like these can be confusing for Japanese language learners.
Admittedly, jargon is not always a bad thing. It is certainly an effective form of shorthand for members privy to the language. It has been almost two years since I started to appear on SNS Eigojutsu, but whenever the staff and crew engage in rapid-fire exchanges using words like ワンカメ, 撮り切り, and てれこ, I still find myself completely lost. But everyone else seems to know exactly what’s going on.
*Other TV industry argot words
・テッペン (teppen) means 12 a.m. Teppen literally means peak.
・ケツカッチン (ketsukacchin) means you have plans later on and that you only have a limited amount of time you can dedicate to the job at hand. Ketsu means butt or ass, or in this case, something closer to rear end.
・楽屋オチ (gakuya ochi) is essentially the Japanese equivalent of the term inside baseball—something only an insider would understand and appreciate. Gakuya refers to the dressing room or green room entertainers spend time in before taking to the stage, and ochi refers to the punchline of a joke.
It can take a long time to decipher and get used to words like these, but for language learners it’s important to remember that jargon tells us something about a particular country’s language and cultural sensibilities. It still strikes me as odd whenever I see TV industry people greet each other with おはようございます (good morning) even in the evening or dead of night, but this expression reveals something about the sleepless nature of the TV industry.
Another term that fascinates me is フリップ (flip), which is short for flipboard—the piece of office equipment to which a flip chart or other type of pad is attached. Note that it is abbreviated as flip instead of the more obvious board. Also note that more often than not, it’s just a board with information written on it—there’s absolutely no flipping involved. And finally, this nugget: at NHK, they refer to these boards as パターン (patterns).
The argot word that has left the biggest impression on me is 顎足枕付き (ago-ashi-makura tsuki)—when the client will pay for your food, your transportation, and your accommodations. Ago means jaw, and thus refers to the cost of food; ashi means legs, and thus refers to the cost of transportation; makura means pillow, and thus refers to the cost of accommodations. Originally used among traditional Japanese storytellers, the term is definitely Edo-chic.
Historically, people would only receive limited exposure to jargon outside of their field of expertise. But this has changed dramatically with the advent of the digital age. As I have shown in this column, ICT industry buzzwords and jargon have become a part of everyday conversation for all of us. For the generation growing up today, many of these terms become familiar to them in the context of ICT, and it is only later that they learn about what the words originally meant. For them, gram is a shortened form of Instagram rather than a metric unit of measurement; tag is something you do with photos—not a game you play on school playgrounds.
Given the times we live in, it is essential that we recognize jargon as jargon in order to communicate effectively and accurately with others. And as my autonomous car example demonstrates, breaking down the jumbled mess of jargon allows us to see the problems and challenges inherent in the technology around us. For language learners, jargon can be an important teacher.
