As part of this week's Katakana project, Japanese students are supposed to write a little bit about how katakana is used in different sorts of situations. So, for my analysis draft, I found two instances of katakana usage that really caught my eyes.
The first is from a McDonald's campaign.
Humbly borrowed from tofugu.com at:
http://www.tofugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/01_imlovinit.jpg.
Disturbing image of Ronald McDonald aside, the well-known English slogan for McDonald's, which is "I'm Loving It," is written in katakana on the right. These are clearly loanwords that come directly from another language, and the purpose of subscribing these particular words in katakana was so that Japanese speakers would be able to understand.
But I cannot help but wonder - do they actually understand? These three words, when spoken, are actually still just English words. Even if they are in katakana, would a Japanese speaker who knows no English and does not recognize the slogan be able to understand what he or she has read? In such a case, the katakana would have no more meaning to the readers than if someone had written "I'm Loving It" in English from the start.
I also found this amusing sample of Japanese onomatopoeia.
Humbly borrowed from bushtalk.blogspot.com at:
http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/content/japaneseculture/images/tb_no13/t13_28.gif
Onomatopoeia are used to, basically, portray 'sound effects.' So to write onomatopoeias in katakana is doubly effective, because the reader then sounds out the katakana and can hear or feel the sound that the onomatopoeia is intended to represent.
Both anime and manga tend to use katakana-written onomatopoeias very liberally, and I've noticed that the way the katakana are presented can help with conveying the onomatopoeia's intended sound. For instance, pikapika for 'shine' or 'brightness' may be written in small, bubbly letters, while nyanya for a cat may be written in a long, curling line. The extra aesthetics help get the point across.
The above examples are just two instances in which katakana are used in the Japanese writing system, but there are, of course, far more. The different applications, and methods of application, are so wide, and so varied, that even native Japanese speakers seem to have trouble capturing the essence of katakana usage easily in a simple one-sentence definition.
Textbooks have tried to do so, but their answers seem to be vague, and each textbook may place more importance on one function of katakana than another. But, typically, the textbooks divide katakana usage into three categories: for loanwords, for onomatopoeia, and for emphasis. This categorization covers a very large range of possible usage of katakana in the simplest way; no doubt, that is why the textbooks classify them so.
As textbooks, perhaps that is the best that they can do in describing katakana, by speaking of them in such a vague, simple way. But, from my analysis, it seems that katakana has far more meaning as a complex part of Japanese culture - something that textbooks would no doubt have trouble to truly explain.
ア！ワカリマシタ。 ワタシノニホンゴワトテモスゴイイデスカ？ カタカナノレキシハオモシロイイデスネ！
ReplyDeleteオハヨウゴザイマス！
ReplyDeleteハイ！ソシテ、カタカナデカクノハトテモオモシロインデスネ！チョットムズカシインデスガ、ワタシハカタカナガスキデス！
ジャアマタ、
ネコミミ
カタカナハ オモシロイデスネ。
ReplyDeleteタクサン ツカイカタガ アリマス。
よくできましたね。
The impression which I received from the kanji,hiragana & katakana are each different.
I feel that katakana has the image of metallic or sharpness or hardness.
On the contraly, Hiragana has the image of something round or soft or gentleness.
And Kanji has the image of seriousness or earnestness.
So, when I write a letter to my friends in Japanese I choose character to write each words very carefully so that I can tell my friends what I feel or how I feel in my writing.
チョット、オモシロイデショウ？
コンバンハ！
Deleteオモシロイトオモイマスヨ！
I think this is very interesting! Having three distinct writing systems, with very different connotations, certainly provides a way for writers of Japanese to express their emotions in a way that is far more clear than with writers of English. With English, the writing form itself is very unemotional, since we have just the one alphabet.
コレハトテモオモシロインデスネ。
ジャアネ、
ネコミミ
The use of kana for onomatopoeia is definitely very cool -- we were talking about this in class with さとう先生 the other day. Being able to choose which alphabet (syllabary) to 'fit' a sound pattern is simply a dimension of nuance that most languages, including English, lack. Whether any one language is actually 'more expressive' than another is certainly a contentious point, but it definitely seems to me that Japanese offers something significant and unique when it comes to onomatopoeia. Cool!
ReplyDeleteコンバンハ！
DeleteI agree! With three distinct writing systems, it is far easier to work emotion into writing in Japanese. It is almost like, with writing in Japanese, you can choose the 'font' with which to portray your message. Of course, for Japanese in this case there would be only three fonts, but still! It is all really cool!
ジャアネ、
ネオミミ
I find it so interesting that each syllabary has its own connotations associated with it. In a way, I'm a little envious of the different syllabary systems in Japanese. It seems like it would be much easier to convey certain tones simply through the way in which the words are written. It makes me wonder if different syllabaries can be used to denote forms of expression such as sarcasm, since there isn't really a standard way to do that in English.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! In class today, sensei pointed out that English kinda-sorta can convey tones in writing by using techniques like italics and boldface. But that does not seem to be on the same Japanese writing system scale of expressiveness... or awesomeness.
DeleteAre you sure that that McDonald's image is actually from an ad campaign? It feels a little too freaky to be one... I feel like the use of katakana in that example also serves to dehumanize the words, as (and this may be purely an individual thing) I tend to read katakana a little more detachedly, so it feels like Ronald McDonald is saying "I'm Loving It" almost robotically.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Thurston in that it's really cool that different syllabaries have different connotations and I find it similar to how kanji connect an idea to an image.
Haha actually, now that I've looked at it again, I'm not too sure exactly what this ad truly is! I did find it in connection to some McDonald's Japanese menus, but it could most certainly be a rendering, like you may find on DeviantArt.
DeleteI love the first picture that you found! hahaha it's almost as if the marketing campaign was just intent on preserving the English slogan, so much so that they employed onomatopoeia to conserve the English sounds even while using the Japanese language. It'd make for an interesting discussion--the branding of international brands in Japan: whether stressing its global prestige and international roots or adapting the brand to be more "Japanese" would appeal more to the local public. What do you think!
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm not too sure! I wonder how much the decision between promoting Japan's connections with international cultures and its own internal culture depends on whoever was responsible for the ad. What was his/her goal in mind for this ad? What did he/she want to accomplish? Very intriguing!
DeleteI agree that katakana is very complex and has many many uses. I also liked how you incorporated images into this post. As to asking whether they really understand (ex. I'm lovin it), I think they do understand "I'm lovin it" because they say it in the commercials etc., but you make a good point- other sentences/words won't have the same effect if it's something Japanese people are unfamiliar with.
ReplyDeleteSo then perhaps, in hearing or seeing a foreign English phrase in the mass media, non-English speakers can learn the phrase's meaning (at least, the general meaning) by association to the context of the commercial. Interesting indeed!
DeleteI think they understand the general positive mood around the slogan, but I feel like "to be loving sth" isn't a construction that too many people would be familiar with. But the slogan itself is pretty vague anyway. Also it's usually written in English in Japan. I feel like someone might have made that image to make fun of Japanese accents, or to be sarcastic or something.
ReplyDeleteI can't disagree with the different impressions Suzuki-san has of the three scripts, but I must say that, read aloud, my impressions are very different. Especially when I was reading the comments entirely in katakana, I realised it can be an inherently humorous script as it's comparatively rarely used in writing, and because there is more detachment. Although it looks sharp, I sometimes imagine it being read in a slightly tainted accent, with softer and rounder sounds like in English. Hiragana I feel is always read with precise (but not necessarily hard) consonants. And kanji is very poetic.
At the same time, you're right, every word has its own connotations and we should be aware of that in our generalisations. =]
I hope the ad does not have such a terrible purpose. I found it at a pretty clean-looking sight about McDonald's Japanese menus, so I figured its intentions were good.
DeleteSo, you mentioned that reading in full katakana seems humorous. Interesting! As a person now learning Japanese, I found that text completely in katakana is very difficult to decipher! But that could be just because I am still learning!