Daily Japanese: April 01, 2011 - "Talent"

I'm going to try to write a short blurb a day introducing some Japanese phrase or word or something that is fun to learn.

Today we're going to talk about タレント (tarento). Written in katakana, this is a word borrowed from English. Can you guess what English word it sounds like? You may have guessed that it's the word "talent." If you did, well, you're right!

But there's a problem... this word means something quiet different than what you think it would mean.

タレント refers to some kind of famous person, generally a TV personality; however, this doesn't mean great actors on TV dramas and sitcoms. Rather, it just means someone who pops up in the media all the time. Sometimes this person is some kind of comedian, sometimes they are pretty girls, sometimes they're washed-up idols, and sometimes they can even be nothing more than the son or daughter of a famous actor or politician or something.

So why are they all over the media? Sometimes they have some kind of quirk or personality they have made up that gets them attention. Sometimes it's just because people like to gossip about them.

What's ironic about the word they chose from English is that more than often enough, these famous people have nothing particularly unique or special about them, and don't posses any real kind of talent.

So next time you hear something about a tarento being mentioned in the media, you'll know exactly what they're talking about. These people who are just famous for being famous :)