A couple of stupid questions about Japanese?

Question

Is katakana really necessary? I mean, I know they use it for foreign words instead of hiragana, but couldn't those words be written in hiragana too? Is this the only purpose of katakana? Is it an option to write foreign words in either of those two alphabets?

Please remember if you answer that I know next to nothing about Japanese.

Answer 1

Katakana isn't just for foreign languages it is also for to represent sounds and company names. It was also used mostly for typing on your computer around the 80's i believe and katakana was also used for writing your first name and other things as well.

Answer 2

That just like asking if latin is important for the English language. Of course hiragana and katakana are important. They are both sister systems.

Both hiragana and katakana are derived from kanji which is the chinese system of writing. Yes, katakana is used to translate words into Japanese but it's also used for company names, technical/scientific terms, and even people's names. Hiragana on the other hand is mostly used for words that cannot be translated into kanji. Not to mention, it's also used for Mr. Mrs. Ms.

If katakana wasn't necessary would it be used? The same is for hiragana. Grammer-wise, there probably isn't any option on which to use. Remember, the Japanese have been using these systems for hundreds of years. There is a reason to why it is this way, but I honestly don't know.

Answer 3

The above answers are right that company names and borrowed words are often written in katakana. There are even specific letters/sounds that have been developed in katakana to represent sounds that don't exist in Japanese, such as "v" or "fa."

Katakana also has alot of other uses, though. It's used for onomatopoeia, so for instance "guruguru" would be written in katakana, or "pikapika" lol. It's also used to emphasize particular words in a sentence.

Interestingly, katakana actually came BEFORE hiragana did. Now hiragana is more common, but if one was going to be eliminated, one would expect it to be the latter of the two.

Answer 4

Japanese has borrowed extremely large numbers of words from other languages, particularly from Chinese in the past and from English in the present. Katakana is a way of writing words of foreign origin, clearly identifying them as being of foreign origin. This is extremely useful in my opinion, and anyway in the opinion of the developers of katakana.

Answer 5

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