カタカナ: An Investigation

こんばんは、みなさん！　えいごのブログ　です。

     In conducting some investigation of カタカナ across a number of different sites, I had some interesting revelations and a few questions. The sites I chose to study are a mix. Some are videogame-devoted sites: the homepage for Dark Souls III, and Famitsu (a Japanese news-site for games). However, I also checked out Niconico, a video site similar to YouTube, as well as the online site for Asahi, a Japanese news source.

     Many of the カタカナ words that I found interesting were those related to online sites specifically, like ニュース (news) and イベント (event). Another word I found that I particularly liked wasコミュニティ(community), relating to forums or message boards for visitors to the respective sites. I am not sure why I enjoyed finding these words. I think I like that I was able to navigate the Japanese sites like a native-speaking member. Of course, there is ブログ, a familiar term by now, but it helped show me how ubiquitous certain カタカナ expressions can become when everyone agrees on their usage.

     I also took some time to look up the Japanese titles for games that I enjoy, and was actually surprised to find that many games use カタカナ for the title rather than a native Japanese word. For instance, Dark Souls is ダークソウル, and Persona is ペルソナ. Perhaps I was especially surprised because I have seen other game titles, like 新女神転生 ( しん　めがみ　てんせい) that utilize native Japanese words, and I assumed this was the standard.

     This question, of why to use カタカナ over a native Japanese equivalent, was raised in my mind at other points. I found オンライン (online) used frequently, and プレイアー (player). Are there truly no native Japanese words that can represent ideas like the internet or a player of games? Or maybe there are, but there is a tendency towards カタカナ words as a cultural preference? Perhaps the Japanese language seeks to embrace foreign ideas in order that they may be recreated within a Japanese context? But then I ran into ムービー (movie), an instance where I know えいが would suffice as a perfectly normal native word.

     If I have discovered anything through this investigation, it is that I have a ways to go before I can begin grasping the intricacies of both Japanese language and culture.

じゃあ、また

カイパー

Sources:

DarkSouls III Official Site

Famitsu

Asahi

Niconico