In Koda Kumi's song Birthday Eve I found ダーレン, which means darling. In the yellowbook, it introduces that katakna are used to write foreign names and loan words. I think by using katakana, people could easy distinguish words that are from their original language or are imported from other countries. In Ayumi Hamasaki's song Boys and Girls I found the word イイヒト, meaning good person. I didn't realise that it is something we've learnt before, いいひと. It could have been written in hiragana and kanji, but here the author uses katakna, I think it's for emphasis . Among all the hiragana and kanji words, a katakana word looks very different, I guess that's why they use katakana to gain people's attention and then to emphasis what the word means.
In our yellow book, the introduction of katakana is quite simple: Katakana are used to write foreign names and loan words. While in the other textbook, it talks about how Katakana looks different from Hiragana, also in what cases they're used and why people tend to use it. I think in our yellowbook the author mainly want to tell us the basic knowledge of katakana, but the other textbook focus on the cultural background behind Japanese writing system and thus help us to have a deeper perspective of it. For example, it introduces that in fashion magazines and advertisements and among young urbanites they prefer to use katakana more even though there's a perfect native Japanese word exists. I guess maybe in this more and more globalised world, Japan is open to absorb different kinds of language and culture, and young generation in Japan are very modern!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think there are times when Katakana could be used just to make a point, or to show uniqueness and differentiation from the standard. In that sense, Katakana becomes an art form. Very nice post. じゃまたあした。
ReplyDeleteI was also thrown off by the use of katakana to write terms that typically are written in hiragana like the word for beautiful, キレイ. Using katakana instead of hiragana, like you mention in your post, adds emphasis and draws attention to the word.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that katakana is used frequently in modern and youthful contexts--it seems as if it is fashionable to use foreign words expressed in katakana. This could also be explained by the fact that many of the words youth use are newly introduced Western words that have no Japanese equivalent.
Hey, good observation! I like that you pointed out that other textbooks emphasize the cultural background. And as Yujin said, it makes sense that katakana is used in more youthful contexts. This is true of many languages and cultures (I'm a German literature major, so I see how often the Germans use English words in casual conversation!), but I think it's especially pronounced in Japanese (at least what I've noticed so far).
ReplyDeleteGlobalization brings up a good point. Since Katakana is used for most loan words anyway, it makes sense to use that as the character set to print things that will be spread around internationally. Sensei always mentions the differences in words and pronunciations across different age groups, and pop-culture magazines would definitely be part of that too.
ReplyDeletehello！
ReplyDeleteI'm Japanese universal student.
I'm study English in university.
Japanese has kanji,hiragana and katakana.
It is difficult to learn for foreigner :-(
When I want emphasis something words,I use katakana. And we always use word came from foreigner for katakana.
こんにちは。
ReplyDelete日本語科のTAです。
Your observation is very interesting.
Is there a similar phenomena in the U.S.A. so that the younger generation use more foreign words?
Hello.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Japanese university student.
Your analysis is interesting.
Katakana is different from hiragana and kanji.
I think katakana emphasize a word,
And so has wider meaning than hiragana and kanji.
For example, if I write “もの”, I feel the word become monotony.
I think the Japanese is deeply, and is difficult.