[thaumasiotes]

> You can use lots of English words to describe exactly what kabuki is, but if you're going to be talking about it a lot, operating solely in English is going to become burdensome, and it's better to borrow the Japanese word "kabuki".

This is incorrect. Using the word "kabuki" has no advantage over using some other three-syllable word. In both cases you'll be operating solely in English. You could use the (existing!) word "trampoline" and that would be just as efficient. The odds of someone confusing the concepts are low.

Borrowing the Japanese word into English might be easier to learn, if the people talking are already familiar with Japanese, but in the general case it doesn't even have that advantage.

Consider that our name for the Yangtze River is unrelated to the Chinese name of that river. Does that impair our understanding, or use, of the concept?

[card_zero]

The point is that Japanese has some word for kabuki, while English would have to borrow the word, or coin a new one, or indeed repurpose a word. Without a word, an English speaker would have to resort to a short essay every time the concept was needed, though in practice of course would coin a word quickly.

Hence jargon and formal logic, or something. And surfer slang and txtspk.