Sunday, December 4, 2011

Katakana Analysis (final)

ゴニーヤツ
This was a sound effect of a car crash in a manga book. I think one reason that sound effects are written in katakana is so that readers won't confuse it for a word. It can also grab at the reader's attention so he/she will know to pay attention to it. Also, it makes the manga more dynamic when readers can visualize the sound effects and helps convey the mangaka's intent better.

クレンジング
This seems to be an English loanword for "cleansing" which was found on a bottle of skincare product, aptly called cleansing oil. Since I know that sometimes names are written in katakana rather than hiragana or kanji, the makers may have decided to put the katakana version of the name on the packaging to emphasis the product name. Also, using a katakana loanword instead of a Japanese word may be more trendy/catchy as a marketing strategy, like how some American skincare brands use French names for their products.

I think the purpose of katakana is let to the reader know that this word is important in some way. Whether to indicate onomatopoeia, English loanwords, or just topic-relevant keywords. Katakana can be used to emphasis certain words, like how in English some words are italicized to show that it is notable for some reason. Also it may be used in lieu of hiragana/kanji to sound more trendy and modernized.

Our textbook covered katakana very briefly, other than how to write it correctly and basic uses for it we did not go into detail about katakana. However, I think that I have learned enough to be able to use/read it sufficiently as an elementary Japanese learner. As I progress in my Japanese studies I will probably explore deeper uses for katakana. Through some outside research I have found out that katakana is also use for scientific and technical terms as well. It was created by Buddhist monks as a form of shorthand for Chinese characters.

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