カタカナ The concept of Katakana as a sort of variable alphabet is very interesting, since we certainly don't have anything really comparative in any Germanic or Latin based languages. Here's some examples of phrases I found: ピエロ : This word means clown, but is a clear example of how Katakana is used for all foreign words, not just English. "Piero" has its origins in French, and is the inspiration for this word. ケロケロ : Here is an example of not so much a word as a sound effect. It is the sound frog's make, basically the Japanese version of "ribbit". This is super interesting to me, as this displays how the limits of a language's sounds lead to creative ways to express a sound that is the same universally for all listeners. ギター : Foreign instruments get the Katakana treatment as well. I think we, as English speakers (among other languages) can understand this by comparing how with certain foreign instruments we still refer to them
Posts
Showing posts from September, 2018