Imported words -pluralise?

Question

If a foreign word has no plural form when used by its native speakers, should it be pluralised when used in English? eg. kanji, kimono, tsunami, onsen, bento  Thanks

Mike in Japan · Accepted Answer

Oops, to clarify, should it take an 's' when used as plural?

Ryan smith · Answer

In my opinion, yes.

If only for one reason: it makes things clearer.

Otherwise when I scream "Run! Tsunami!", people would have no idea what they're in for. Do I mean 1 or 500? Are they going to get damp or is the entire island going to get swamped?

My question: Is "bento box" redundant? Does the word "bento" already include the box idea?

Mike in Japan · Answer

Ha Ha, yes, I think you may be right about the 'box'. Good point Ryan, thanks.

Raul · Answer

Hey, this is a good question. Most of "imported" words in English come from latin, greek, italian, etc. In this case, some words keep their original plural form: focus, foci; maffioso, maffiosi, datum, data... but there's a tendency to pluralize them according to the English rules.

But what about Japanesse words? I have no idea how a plural is formed in this case. Now, in Spanish we do use tsunami when we refer a tidal wave, but we seldom pluralize the word. We say that "a tunami affected the coast of Camana and wiped the town off" (literal translation). Camana is a city which was affected by this phenomenum some eyars ago. We don't know how many tidal waves destroyed the city, we just mention the tsunami. We say that tsunamis are common after an earthquake so coastal settlements have to be prepared.

Mmm... I think I'm becoming mixed up. :-/

Imported words -pluralise?

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