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OMG – Japanese learn about internet acronyms and smileys

October 27th, 2009 by James

gr8

An NTV news short about a promotional event for the release of “Gossip Girls” in Japan introduces some of the acronyms and emoticons used in English language mobile phone text messages:

Their reporter visited Temple University’s Japan campus, where an American guy teaches them about “gr8″ and “b4.”

They then quiz Japanese teens about the meaning of “gr8″ and one girl says it means that there are “eight gyaru lolitas.” After the reporter teaches them that it actually means “great,” they say that it could also be used in Japan.

At the end of the clip, a group of Americans introduces Western-style heart and smiley emoticons. (Most Japanese emoticons are not flipped sideways.)



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13 Comments »

Comment by adsasdfdfddfsd
2009-10-27 06:17:33

Nao they know our secrets. :EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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Comment by Karisu
2009-10-27 07:46:07

Not even sure why, but I found that clip to be hysterical.

Maybe it’s seeing them make such huge reactions to things that seem so mundane and old to me.

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Comment by helical
2009-10-27 08:12:39

Smileys today, L33T 5P33|< tomorrow!

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Comment by Weirdo
2009-10-27 09:38:51

( ̄ω ̄)フーン

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Comment by k
2009-10-27 15:31:42

lol at the gr8, “ギャールロリ8人います”

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Comment by Rtie
2009-10-27 17:26:08

These “Western” emoticons are not only used in English, opposed to what the original poster stated.

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Comment by pixel_bomber
2009-10-27 17:31:07

I’m kind of surprised by this. It seems like it would be hard to avoid learning those if you use the internet.

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Comment by weirdo
2009-10-27 19:12:41

You mean the english speaking part of the Internet. The internet isn’t all the same across all different languages. Here are some examples of Japanese ascii.
http://www.smile-style.jp/list/

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Comment by 404error
2009-10-28 03:48:50

but sourcecode remains english xD

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(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by Weirdo
2009-10-28 04:18:33

What source code? 顔文字is not code.

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Comment by Nihon
2009-10-28 07:09:38

ヘ(^_^ヘ)(ノ^_^)ノ

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Comment by ManHaman
2009-10-29 04:14:47

Oooooooooooooooooooo!!!! IT’S SO AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Comment by that gai
2009-10-29 10:49:56

That was awsome
I pray that i grow in the Japanese language things like this make it even cooler

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