Words such as チョコレートケーキ and ラブストーリー are written in Katakana because they give a more sophisticated feeling to the sentence. Also when everything else is written in Hirigana and Kanji, the Katakana stands out and makes an emphasis on those words in the sentence. The eye is quickly attracted to the Katakana words which makes the reader get a glimpse about what the paragraph will be about. These words catches the reader's attention and makes people want to read more. Foreign words are also loaned from other countries because there are no such words in Japanese. Therefore the words are written in Katakana in order to express the foreign word so that Japanese people can read it.
Different textbooks explain Katakana in different ways because there are many reasons why Katakana is used. Minna no Nihongo, Nakama, and Genki explain only one aspect which is that the Katakana words are used for foregin names and loan words. Genki even explains the appearance of Katakana which involves many straight lines rather than curves. Yookoso and Japanese for Busy People shows all the ways Katakana is used for such as loan words, onomatopoeic words, and words for emphasis. Lastly the grammar textbook written by Wako Tawa discusses the different types of writing systems in Japanese: hirigana, katakana, and kanji. They explain that these hirigana expresses most of the words but the other types help to explain it further. Katakana is very importanat in Japanese because it is used for many functions.
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In my experience, katakana doesn't really give a more sophisticated feeling to the sentence--it's more a matter of emphasis or conveying something that was taken from a different language.
ReplyDeleteYour example of チョコレートケーキ, for instance, wouldn't necessarily place any added emphasis or special meaning other than the fact that it's chocolate cake. Words like that are taken from english, but I instead see it as a Japanese word that has the same meaning and sounds almost the same as the english "chocolate cake."
A word like ラブ is a bit more interesting, because it tries to convey something that's a part of a different cultural mindset. In Japan, the word 愛 （あい ＝ love) is rarely used as it is in America, where people say "I love you" all the time. 好き and 大好き can be used in such a context, but even still the sentiment and how it is conveyed changes because of the culture it is inherently tied to. When the katakana ラブ is used, it conveys the word "love" in its Western sense...which is a more romanticized, direct, grandiose sentiment within the context of Japanese language.
I do completely agree with what you said about using katakana words to grab the eye and add emphasis, though. When katakana replaces words that are usually written in hiragana or kanji, the result is a certain emphasis because it catches the reader be suprise. It's used like that on flyers and advertisements, as well as in poetry and fiction.
いろいろなカタカナの言葉を習って、がんばってください！
ジェイソン
I pretty much agree with your opinions about katakana and how it makes people feel more sophisticated.
ReplyDeleteThis perhaps explains why young people sometimes tend to use katakana more often than elderly people do.
To add more words to your insightful analysis, I would say that Japanese people do not merely use katakana for translating the loanwords but by using katakana, they try to internalize the new language into their own familiar language.
Another words, we had a choice of translating the loanwords into Ro-maji instead of Katakana, since Ro-maji are also written by alphabets.
However, we chose to use katakana. Perhaps people thought because this would allow us to get rid of the "foreignness" that are attached to the loanwords.
とてもおもしろいぶんせき（ANALYSIS)だと思います！
これからも日本語の勉強がんばってください。
こんばんわ。わたしはセオです。わたしもかんこくじんです。 わたしわ いちねんせいです。ケーラさんは なんえんせいですか？どうぞよろしく。
ReplyDeleteI think katakana is not make us sophisticated feeling. Precisely, Japanease is almost loan words. So, if aniything, katakana is imitating words. Japanease think when we use katakana, it is more cooler than using kanji or hiragana. The words,チョコレートケーキorラブストーリー,you said, is also feel more cooler than hiragana.
ReplyDeleteSo, I think katakana is not sophisticated letters.
にほんごのべんきょうしてくれてありがとう。
がんばってね。
Hello, I'm a Japanese student.
ReplyDeleteI guess there are two reasons why ﾁｮｺﾚｰﾄｹｰｷ and ﾗﾌﾞｽﾄｰﾘｰ are written in Katakana.
①these words are loan words.
②If they are written in Hiragana, we Japanese would feel strange and unfashionable. Few years ago, to write words in Hiragana which should be written in Katanaka came into fashion.
おもしろいです。ぼくは カラカナは むずかしいです。I have an accent so I tend to sound out loan words incorrectly haha. I also heard that えいご was "fashionable" in Japan, almost as an advertising gimmick.
ReplyDelete