Most of the Katakana my group and I found were loan words on Japanese products. I think more onomatopoeia would be found in anime.
Here are two katakana I found:
1. Loanword, コンピューター, computer, Daily Sun Japanese newspaper
This might be written in katakana because scientific and technical terms are often written in katakana. Also, I realize wikipedia isn't always the best source, but it says, "Katakana were used for telegrams in Japan before 1988, and for computer systems—before the introduction of multibyte characters—in the 1980s. Most computers in that era used katakana instead of kanji or hiragana for output."
2. Loanword, コーラ, Cola, Coca Cola-flavored hard candy
The purpose of writing this in katakana might be because Cola is a foreign invention, a foreign word, and a name. Katakana is often used for transcribing words from foreign languages.
Some words are transcribed into katakana because it does not make sense to change a foreign name. It would be unrecognizable to the foreigners who are familiar with the word. There also aren't kanji that stand for foreign words because kanji were developed before these words were known. The katakana show that the word is foreign or unusual, which helps readers know that they aren't looking at traditional Japanese word.
Each textbook is different in explaining katakana because there are exceptions to why certain words are in katakana. Some names are in katakana; some are not. "Computer" could have been written in hiragana or kanji (it's not a loanword, name, or onomatopoeia), but somehow it's in katakana. Textbooks don't give strict rules for what words are in katakana because there are none. In general, most katakana are foreign or unusual sounding words, onomatopoeia, words for emphasis, or names.
5 comments:
おもしろいいですね！
that telegram thing is soooo strange.
did they do that b/c it's harder to print straight lines on paper?? tell me if u ever find out!
Hi,
Good work so far! If you're looking for more examples of katakana, manga is a good place to look, and you might want to find some Japanese blogs as well. Also, not all loaned words are borrowed from English. For example, アルバイト (part time job) is borrowed from the German word for "to work". You might also find some situations where katakana is used for dramatic effect, or to emphasize the sound of a word over its meaning.
Good luck with your project!
I do the SAME THING!
I always forget the difference between katakana and hiragana. :)
most times i mix up languages.
like i'd be speaking in spanish
and then i'd say something in japanese...O.o
I totally agree.
we need words to communicate
and probably all those words developed at some point
because we needed to express an idea/thing.
but LOL NEEEEEEET
i think that's such a funny word!!
not a funny topic tho...
it surprises me that people find it hard to communicate
because they kind of do online.
it doesn't seem to be b/c they don't know how
if every neet danced,
maybe they'd be able to express themselves?? LOL
odori247, you'd save the world!
nice, reminds me of 'body language' song...;D
People usually transfer a foreign word into familiar sound and then write it in their own language. Kanji doesn't have their own sound in Japanese, instead they are expressed in hiragana. I think this is the reason why Katakana is used to express foreign words and also used to express sounds.
I'm surprised about the telegraph system using katakana. It's probably because of the need to do spelling out by syllable instead of using kanji which could possess multiple syllables.
I think Katakana has been very effective at writing foreign words, but in some languages, they tend to create their own words for foreign words. Example: computer in Chinese is 電腦 (dian nao) which literally translates to electric brain.
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