Japanese language has lots of borrowed words (loan words). These words mostly came form Chinese, English and French. When Japanese introduced a new word from foreign language, they tried to replicate the pronunciation of the word. Some textbooks said that the loan words were widely used in fashion magazine because they had an impression of modernity. (One other reason might be people are tired of keep creating new words for their language.)
The first word I found is ビタミン(vitamin). ビタミン is a loan word from English. I found this in a Japanese food magazine. I found there are lots of loan words in food magazines. This was reasonable because many food were introduced into Japan later.
The second one I found was ライスカレー（rice curry). This is also a loan word from English. I found this word on the menu of a Japanese restaurant.
The most interesting word I found is ピカチュウ. The person who named it said that this name is a portmanteau of the Japanese words pikapika(ピカピカ), an onomatopoeia for electric sparkling, and chū, which is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a mouse's squeak.
イージーレギンスパンシ(Easy leggings pants). I found this loan word two days ago on a price tag. Easy in hiragana is かんたんな. But on the price tag, they use katakana instead of hiragana. Maybe it tried to emphasize on the word.( Another reason might be they tried to reach a conformity because leggings pants was written in katakana??)
Different textbooks explained the use of katakana in different ways probably because these textbooks were written in different times. Language was not just about the language, it was also about the culture behind it. We sometimes found it hard to perfectly translate a foreign word into another cultural settings. Even if we could translate, the word lost some meaning associated with its original culture.
The katakana phrase イージーレギンスパンツ is a good topic to analyze. The word かんたんな is translated into English and then written in katakana. You made some good points about analyzing the reason why the tag uses katakana instead of hiragana. Can you think of other reasons why they used katakana? Is it appealing for the customers when they buy the leggings to use katakana instead of hiragana?
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your hard work! It seems like you did a lot of reading and found some interesting insights on why some katakana words are used. I work on food history, so I found your section about food magazines and menus was especially interesting for me.
ReplyDeleteI think you made a good point about ビタミン being a loan word from English, which is also true for many other food-related words (especially names of foreign dishes). But you might also want to keep in mind that in addition to the many evocative meanings that katakana can express, it is sometimes used in very functional ways for standardization and expediency in terms of international standards. This is especially true for scientific and nutritional terms such as ビタミン. Using katakana loan words for scientific terms is not only meant to evoke images of internationalism and modern technology but also to ease the barriers to conversation between Japanese and foreign scientists.
You picked an interesting set of examples in that your ライスカレー ad is using katakana very differently. In this case, not only is it indicating a loan word, but it is expressing a sentiment of nostalgia for old-fashioned curry rice. The writing on the top left (新しい、なつかしい味, "a new, nostalgic flavor") also suggests this image. Katakana can also be used in this way to express longing or a nostalgic feeling for the past. So, the katakana here does not purely suggest that the curry rice is of foreign origin but also that the reader should miss the old-fashioned flavor of curry rice as previously made in Japan.
I hope this helps, and best of luck with the project!