According to text book information, カタカナ is used for loanwords, emphasis, onomatopoeia, and furigana (the little characters next to kanji characters explaining their meaning).
To find words in Katakana, I went online and found the Japanese version of Nylon magazine. After browsing through a couple articles, a found two examples of Katakana that interested me:
To find words in Katakana, I went online and found the Japanese version of Nylon magazine. After browsing through a couple articles, a found two examples of Katakana that interested me:
The First: ボーイフレンド (Boyfriend)
Why Katakana?
The article was about the movie, "A Single Man," a homosexual romantic tragedy directed by Tom Ford. I think because it is a movie about a gay romance, the word "boyfriend" is written in Katakana to accentuate the main character's homosexuality and the core essence of the film.
The Second: アーティスティック (Artistic)
Why Katakana?
I found this word in an article reviewing M.I.A's most recent album, "MAYA". I think Katakana was used in this case to accentuate the fact that her music is atypical and she is a musical artist, not just a musician. It's really interesting that the word "artistic" is stressed here, and I think it holds a very different meaning from "good" or "talented". The word エスニック (ethnic) was also used because it is an important aspect of her musical style and identification.
For your first example, I think writing "boyfriend" in カタカナ, and as a loan word was an interesting choice. Even though they could have used the Japanese word for boyfriend, they chose to write ボーイフレンド. I agree that it emphasizes the word more, especially because ”かれ” is probably used more (I think; I'm not sure). I like your analysis about how カタカナ is used to stress what the film is actually about.
ReplyDeleteおはよう。ナズキアン先生の四年生クラスの学生です。チンと言います。よろしく。とても面白い例ですよね。ボーイフレンドとか。同性愛の場合は、なんかボーイフレンドのほうが彼氏よりいう時あまり恥ずかしくないかなと思います。日本人にとってね。また、その映画を見に行く人は、多分二十代三十代ぐらいの若者でしょう。翻訳しないでむしろカタカナを使うと、やはりはやってくるみたいな感じするわね。いつも人気になった村上春樹は外国文学を日本語で紹介するとき、多くの場合は、タイトルをカタカナそのままにして、まあ、そのため村上さんが批判されたケースもでてきたんです。その以上、役に立つかな？
ReplyDeletePerhaps the use of boyfriend in カタカナ points to a larger usage of the word in Japanese gay culture which arguably might have been mirrored after American gay culture?
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