gmb wrote:... Am I the only FG that thinks this way?
See: China's People's Daily praises katakana?
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Am I the only FG that thinks this way?
kamome wrote:Don't forget that katakana, in addition to functioning as an alphabet for foreign loan words, also serves the same function in certain contexts as italics do in English (for emphasis, setting a word apart in a sentence, etc.).
Taro Toporific wrote:
Yeh, italics: That's state of the art just like punctuation and paragraphing rules. I heard that a while back these people in Greece invented this thing called "spaces" you can between words. Do you think we can keep that a secret from the Japanese too.
gmb wrote:OK so most of you disagree with me. That OK but what about when I am told on some or most Japanese documents that I have to use Katakana for my name. My name is my name not some Fu*ked up way of miss spelled or miss pronunciation. I am not a Fu*ken Pole and its meaning in Katakana.
FG Lurker wrote:gmb wrote:OK so most of you disagree with me. That OK but what about when I am told on some or most Japanese documents that I have to use Katakana for my name. My name is my name not some Fu*ked up way of miss spelled or miss pronunciation. I am not a Fu*ken Pole and its meaning in Katakana.
Why all the anger about this? Japanese names get F'd up in English just as much or worse.
How far would a Japanese person get in *your* country if they insisted on using Kanji to write their names on official documents? Not very far I'd say...
FG Lurker wrote:Both are acceptable... As long as they chose one and stuck to it I don't think it's a problem.
gmb wrote:OK so most of you disagree with me. That OK but what about when I am told on some or most Japanese documents that I have to use Katakana for my name. My name is my name not some Fu*ked up way of miss spelled or miss pronunciation. I am not a Fu*ken Pole and its meaning in Katakana.
Yes. Words evolve over time. For example, ask your average Japanese why is the stapler called a "hotchkiss"? The answer is simple: when the American company, Hotchkiss, exported staplers to Japan, they had "hotchkiss" written on the side of it. So, that's how the Japanese came to call them by that name. Now, over decades of use, the word has entered the Japanese lexicon as a full-fledged Japanese word.james wrote:anyone out there know why tobacco is written in hiragana?
cstaylor wrote:Yes. Words evolve over time. For example, ask your average Japanese why is the stapler called a "hotchkiss"? The answer is simple: when the American company, Hotchkiss, exported staplers to Japan, they had "hotchkiss" written on the side of it. So, that's how the Japanese came to call them by that name. Now, over decades of use, the word has entered the Japanese lexicon as a full-fledged Japanese word.james wrote:anyone out there know why tobacco is written in hiragana?
Charles wrote:Yabut, Hotchkiss is written in katakana.
The reason tabako is written in hiragana is not so simple. Tobacco was introduced to Japan by Dutch traders, near the end of the 15th century if I recall correctly. There actually is a kanji jukugo for tabako, but it's rather complex, so most everyone used kana.
But back in the 15th century, the roles of katakana and hiragana were reversed. Foreign loan words were written in hiragana, and Japanese words were written in katakana.
Charles wrote:cstaylor wrote:Yes. Words evolve over time. For example, ask your average Japanese why is the stapler called a "hotchkiss"? The answer is simple: when the American company, Hotchkiss, exported staplers to Japan, they had "hotchkiss" written on the side of it. So, that's how the Japanese came to call them by that name. Now, over decades of use, the word has entered the Japanese lexicon as a full-fledged Japanese word.james wrote:anyone out there know why tobacco is written in hiragana?
Yabut, Hotchkiss is written in katakana.
The reason tabako is written in hiragana is not so simple. Tobacco was introduced to Japan by Dutch traders, near the end of the 15th century if I recall correctly. There actually is a kanji jukugo for tabako, but it's rather complex, so most everyone used kana.
But back in the 15th century, the roles of katakana and hiragana were reversed. Foreign loan words were written in hiragana, and Japanese words were written in katakana.
Andocrates wrote:
New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's use of words written in katakana, a form of writing used mainly for scientific terms and words derived from other languages, stood out in his policy speech on Friday, as he apparently aimed to create a new image of himself as a leader. Abe, at 52 the youngest Japanese prime minister in the post-war period, used a total of 109 katakana words in his speech, four times the number used by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who disliked katakana words and bureaucratese...The katakana terms Abe used included words such as "missairu" (missile), and "tero" (terrorism), which are hard to convert into Japanese, as well as with names of foreign countries and other pronouns. Other examples in phrases from Abe's speech included "terewaaku (telework) enabling work to be done from home," "the promotion of an Ajia geetouei (Asian gateway) concept with which Japan can form a bridge with Asia and the world," and a "kantorii aidentitii (country identity) for a new Japan looking to the future"...more...
FG Lurker wrote:I suppose if it all happened very quickly and tobacco came directly here from Europe it could have happened.
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