淸末民初, 大量由日人創製的新詞譯詞隨日譯外國書籍及留日中國士子傳入中國；八九十年代, 日語新詞隨日本的流行文化和技術, 傳入中港臺等地, 흔起日語新詞渗入漢語的第二個高潮。中日之間過去有過大規模的語言接觸, 令兩種語言之間存在大量的同形詞。日本文化廳的《中國語と對應する漢語》中所收錄的詞彙裡, 75%爲同形詞, 當中大部빈更屬於詞義相同或非常接近的「S(Same)」類(文化廳, 1978)。母語的正遷移作用令漢語母語話者「望文生義」, 較易掌握日語中的漢字詞彙。然而, 以漢語中的知識理解日本漢語詞彙, 其實容易造成詞義理解上的偏差和誤解, 因爲中日同形詞中還有一些詞義不同的同形異義詞。本文將以21世紀(2000至今)的報刊、雜誌爲對象, 探討「日語借詞」在香港社會的使用槪況、特點和背後的原因等, 藉以了解香港日語學習者在「中日夾雜」的語言環境下, 掌握日語漢字詞彙的困難。

During the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China, a large number of new terms and translated terms invented by Japanese were introduced into China through Japanese translation of foreign texts and by Chinese scholars studied in Japan. Similarly, during the 1980s and 1990s, new Japanese terms were introduced into China, Hong Kong and Taiwan together with Japanese popular cultures and technologies, which is the second wave of new Japanese terms diffusing into Chinese language. There has been extensive language contact between Japan and China, generating a large number of Japanese-Chinese homographs. Within the vocabulary included in 《中國語と對應する漢語》(Kango and the corresponding Chinese terms) published by Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japanese, 75% are homographs, and many of which even belong to the “S(Same)” category of terms having the same or very close meaning (Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japanese, 1978). Native Chinese speakers, through positive transfer of their mother tongue, are able to identify the meaning of a word basing on its form. Hence it is easier for them to master the Sino-Japanese vocabulary (or kango) in the Japanese language. However, if the Sino-Japanese vocabulary are interpreted based on what we know in the context of Chinese language, it would be prone to misinterpretation and error because there are still some Japanese-Chinese homographs that are false friends, though they look similar, their meaning in the two languages differ. This paper will review newspapers and magazines of the 21st century (i.e. from 2000 onward) to investigate how “Japanese loanwords” are employed in Hong Kong, the characteristics of use, and the reason behind. The findings will help understand the problems met by the learners of Japanese language in Hong Kong, a language environment with Chinese and Japanese mingling together”.