Money money money

As I write this the Global Financial Crisis (世界金融危機　せかいきんゆうきき　sekai kinyuu kiki）panic stuff is still ongoing. So to cheer things up (?) it might be interesting to examine the words used in English vs. Japanese connected to our money, （お）金　（お）かね　kane or (honorific) okane.

In English, when you put your money into banks for the purpose of accumulating it, whether they be the brick and mortar kind or piggy banks, you save it. In Japanese, there is a specific word for saving money: 貯金　ちょきん　chokin. Broken down it means to pile up or hoard money. The goal is to 蓄積　ちくせき　chikuseki - build up that pile of money. (The word for deposit is 預金 よきん　yokin, which means to put money into safekeeping (sort of)).

The English word for putting your money into some vehicle where you anticipate growth is called investing. In Japanese it's 投資　とうし　toushi. The breakdown of this word is interesting: 投　means to throw, and 資　means capital. So when you are investing, you are throwing your capital (money). Hmm.

Some other financial words

• 銀行　ぎんこう　ginkou - bank
• 口座　こうざ　kouza - account To open an account is 口座を開ける　こうざをあける　kouza o akeru
• 株　かぶ　kabu - stock
• 現金　げんきん　genkin - cash
• 小切手　こぎって　kogitte - check (note: checks are not used much in Japan at all)
• クレジットカード　- credit card (imported word)
• 経済　けいざい　keizai - economy
• 金融　きんゆう　kinyuu - finance, financial

Comments

[yoko]

If the Japanese don't use checks very often, what do they use more often- checks or credit cards? Do they have a debit card system?

[maki]

Neither. Cash is still king, and recurring payments etc. are all done by direct deposit.

[maki]

Credit cards etc. do exist of course but they are not nearly as ubiquitous as in the US (actually the same is true here in Switzerland...where it's not so easy to get a credit card)

[yoko]

That's good to know. Thanks.

I personally think credit cards are evil, but they seem to be a necessary evil here in the US.

[mel]

whats the japanese word for money?