I picked this word just because it sounded cute! It is written in Katakana because it is an onomatopoeia. It also shows how Japanese people hear the sound of heart beating. For example, Americans hear it as dub-dub, Thai people hear it as toob-toob, and so the onomatopoeia would differ from one language to another.
エネルギー = energy
It is a loanword, so it makes sense why katakana is used in this instance. It also reflects how Japan is being influenced by western cultures to a certain extent. We can see that エネルギー is being used to refer to 'energy', and is supposedly understood by all because the word can be ubiquitously found in food packages which are accessible to all classes of people.
アップル = apple
This word was found printed on a candy package as one of the flavors. It is in katakana because it is a loan word from English. However, it is interesting how the manufacturer did not use りんご which is a more traditional word. The effect of using its English counterpart is that the product suddenly appears more modern and trendy because it seems that, in a modern world, every educated person should know English. Teenagers in Thailand are starting to mix more English words in their Thai conversation now... so I imagine the same thing could happen to Japanese culture.
As for the question why each textbook explains the meaning of Katakana differently, I don't have any insightful meaning to offer. I think it's quite simple... it's the truth that katakana is most often used for loanwords. So the textbooks offer the same explanation, but phrase it differently. The book called Japanese for busy people offers a more thorough explanation where it includes a broader extent of usage. I have learned that, in the past, Japanese people sent telegrams using only Katakana, that could also be one of the instances where Katakana is used, however it is not very common anymore so I guess the authors can take the liberty to exclude that explanation to avoid unnecessary confusion.
8 comments:
I think it is interesting how different languages have different onomatopoeia sounds. I agree ドキドキ 葉かわあいいです!
It is interesting that we use アップル pretty often although we do have the word りんご. I think アップル is often used for apple products such as candy, ice cream, drinks, etc. I never say アップルをください when I want apples at a store. Rather, I would say アップルジュースをください. Also, アップル is often used with other loan words such as キャンディー, ジュース, アイスクリーム. These foods are imported relatively recently, so your analysis has a point!
コッメント、ありがとう ございました。
One thing I also find interesting is that Japanese learners have to learn how to pronounce English words in Japanese way. I think it's great though. It's just, like, with Thailand, Thai people 'try' to pronounce the words as American as possible. That makes me reflect how we should be more proud of our language just like the Japanese... making foreigners learn to pronounce things the 'Thai' way lol
Wow, I was looking for a science(ish) katakana word! A quick google search shows that エネルギー is used in physics and phrases like "renewable energy". It's a funny loan word, because isn't there another word in Japanese that already meant "energy"?
Your mention of Thailand reminded me of an episode of a Japanese cooking show where they cooked Thai food. They showed 「タベタイ」 on screen, but they meant it as both "I want to eat." and "Thai food". Haha
Personally, I love how flexible Japanese is. In clas, we saw how flexible it is when it comes to where a particle should be in a sentence. From your example of アップル, I realized that it is also flexible in terms of its Katakana and Hiragana expressions of words. Compared to Japanese, English is much more rigid.
When you mention that different languages have different ways of representing certain onomatopoeia, it makes me think of another reason why katakana is useful. If all cultures said "bow-wow" for a dog's bark, then I could read "bow-wow" phonetically in hiragana and know what it meant. But that's not the case! So katakana is helpful in providing foreign readers with a cue that the word might be meant as an onomatopoeia etc. We (foreign readers) are less likely to try to read the word as an unknown japanese noun or verb etc.
I agree that Asian languages are much more flexible than European ones. I feel English is so learnable because there are rules to follow. However with Japanese, well, there are rules, but also exceptions to every single one of them.
Also with タベタイ、 it's cute how they are playing with the language lol
Kimisan,
yupp I agree. Katakana is like a code almost. When it's used, then you are sort of forewarned that there's something special about the word, i.e., it might be a loan word, etc.
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