I have begun to see myself as a speaker of a nascent dialect that deserves further study by linguistic scholars. This is the patois of long-term foreign residents of Japan, who, despite being native English speakers (as in my case), drop certain Japanese words into their conversations to make exchanges more comprehensible.

One example is when I discuss large Japanese numbers, whose counting system does not correspond well with English.

I give you this: "He paid me back the first four man (¥40,000) but still owes me 12 man (¥120,000)." Or, "If you pay more than 10 man (¥100,000) for a yuwakashi-ki (gas heater), you're getting overcharged."