Quote:
Originally Posted by Columbine
I went, I googled, enlightenment followed.
USA 'pudding' = UK's 'angel delight'
UK 'pudding' = just about anything, even stuff with kidney in it.
Japanese 'purin' = steamed vanilla custard (+ caramelish sauce, sometimes)
Creme caramel = baked vanilla custard with caramel in it + caramel sauce.
Spanish flan = baked purin.
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I don't know much about the UK side of the story (or about any country other than America)... but what I do know is that when my mom came to Japan I gave her some purin. It had only Japanese on it (which my mom can't read). My mom also knows extremely little about Japan. After she took a bite, I asked her what it was and without skipping a beat, she said "flan". I always thought the same. If you look at wikipedia, プリン will turn into flan when you turn the article into English from Japanese. MANY dictionaries have this wrong-- more so than dictionaries, though, textbooks have this wrong. Teachers also have this wrong. In your example you cite flan as being baked purin, when purin is probably just flan (it has been baked, and then cooled in the convenience store or wherever they have it).
Japanese 'purin' = steamed vanilla custard (+ caramelish sauce, sometimes)
I think that "sometimes" should be changed to most of the time, or usually. In other words- sometimes it dosen't have caramel. (it's a minor thing, but I think it should be emphasized that purin comes with caramel sauce most of the time and that is the overall "image" of purin in Japan).
Getting off topic (which I am more often than not criminal of), the same thing goes with kabocha always being called pumpkin. What American's call a pumpkin looks nothing like kabochas. I would argue that a kabocha is a type of pumpkin-- but it is nonetheless different. They are both some kind of squash, though. I don't even think they have similar flavors.
Yet another one: daikon. Both Japanese people and English speakers studying Japanese call these things radishes on a regular basis. They have a similar taste, but look nothing like each other.
I think Japanese people sometimes have a tendency to try to give an English name to everything (when studying English). I haven't a clue why they have that tendency, though. At any rate, I've seen things like "Chinese noodles" instead of "ramen" in text books. Chinese noodles is such a broad sounding term that even if someone has never heard of "ramen" before, they're still not gonna have a clue if you say "chinese noodles". The same thing with things like "buckwheat noodles" and what have you. Just call them by their Japanese names. I would hope that Japanese people decide to do the same. Likewise, I'm not confident that all Americans would know what you were talking about if you said flan-- so when talking to a Japanese person (or even an American who knows a little Japanese) in English, purin will get you a lot further.