The katakana expressions that I have chosen to analyze are ジョイ (joy) and インスタントラーメン (instant ramen). I found the first expression on a bottle of detergent in a Japanese commercial (shown in my previous blog entry) and the second expression on the external wrapping of a bowl of ramen. Both of these expressions are examples of foreign loan words being transliterated into katakana writing: "joy" and "instant" are English words. The actual etymology of the word "ramen," however, is somewhat difficult to pin down: it is not certain whether it is a Japanese modification of the original Chinese word or simply a Japanese pronunciation. In spite of this uncertainty, the word "ramen" as we know it both in English writing and in katakana surely has its origins in the Chinese language, meaning that it is effectively a loan word. Thus, though "ramen" has writings both in kanji and hiragana, it is most often seen written in katakana to reflect its foreign origins.
So the katakana is used here to write out the foreign words, but why use foreign words at all? Why not just use the Japanese translations of these loan words and write them in hiragana and/or kanji? An explanation for this is not offered by any of the textbooks listed, but my hypothesis is that appropriating English words like "joy" and "instant" creates a broader market base for products. If native Japanese speakers as well as internationals with a limited background in Japanese (but who can comprehend katakana writing) can read what is on the package, more people will be able to understand what is being sold to them. Since most people tend to buy products whose labels they can actually read, it follows that being able to reach more people through the writing on the package would make a product more marketable to a broader demographic. The use of katakana to write the word "ramen," whose origins are ambiguous, illustrates that the word is in fact a loan word, though it has been appropriated heavily into Japanese culture. I find this word to be a very interesting reflection of the interaction between the Chinese and Japanese cultures in terms of language as well as food, and how the original meanings of words can often get lost in translation when they are appropriated into new cultures.
I think the different ways in which the different textbooks explain katakana is based on the function of each textbook and the audience for which each textbook was intended. Most of the textbooks offer quite cursory explanations of what katakana is, devoting one or two sentences to the function of katakana and giving no examples (this is the case with
Minna no Nihongo,
Yookoso, and
Nakama).
Genki is similar in that the explanation of katakana is very short, but at least it offers an example of a loanword being written in katakana (テレビ). A possible explanation for this is that these books are intended for people who will be devoting a considerable amount of time to the intensive study of Japanese, so it is likely that their instructors will teach and demonstrate practical uses of katakana in the classroom, or that they will learn about it from other sources. An even more cursory explanation is found in the
grammar textbook written by Wako Tawa, whose only insight on the kana systems is that they have "different functions," without explaining what those functions are. This might be because this book is specifically a grammar textbook, which is not intended to delve into the particulars of the writing system but rather to delineate grammar rules. The writer of this or any grammar book probably assumes that a person who is using such a text has learned or will learn the writing systems from another source. The most comprehensive explanation of katakana is found in
Japanese for Busy People, which gives a numbered list of uses for katakana with examples (at least for onomatopoeia). It is possible that this is because the "busy people" for whom this textbook is intended may not have the time or interest to learn the particulars of katakana from other places such as an instructor or another book, so a more complete explanation is provided to these students.
