Katakana Is Hard

今日はとてもniceな天気です

Katakana is arguably the easiest of the Japanese writing system. It's the first syllabary that I've learned when I started getting interested in learning Japanese more than a decade ago.

My Japan Trip #

When I visited Japan in March 2023, I can already read Katakana and Hiragana with ease, and some everyday Kanji. I was even surprised that, with the little broken Japanese I know, I was able to hold conversations with locals.

In this trip, I was with my other friends. They are not as familiar with the language as I was. They can read the Kanas slowly but some words they would not understand. They are, however, far smarter than me in any other way. Like me, they still try to read and understand what they can when they can.

Since it was my first time in Japan, I wanted to immerse myself in the Japanese language and culture. Talking to people when chance allows. Reading everything I come across. Signs. Labels. Receipts. I was having the time of my life. The few Kanjis that I did know helped a lot. There are some where there's a multiple kanji word that I don't know, but I do recognize one of them, or I would recognize the radicals used, and it would help me get the gist of what it says. This accelerated my learning a lot. I'm loving the language even more and I wanted to learn more Japanese.

Though, since I stepped into the country, there's one thing that kept messing me up, and that's Katakana. The simplest one. The one I thought would be my best friend throughout my stay.

It's Dead Simple #

The reading itself is not the issue for me. I got that in the bag. My issue is how it's used.

Katakana is usually used for loaned words. Words from other languages, primarily English. That is where my knowledge of the Japanese language becomes irrelevant, because it's not even Japanese. I understand that loaned words essentially become part of the language. Every language has them. I just find it especially hard in Japanese where not only is there no limit to the foreign language it can borrow from, but the word also transforms, both phonetically and graphemically.

Plus, I'm not necessarily learning the Japanese language when I'm learning about the loaned words. The common ones, sure, but how uncommon will I need to go before it's irrelevant?

Still, I was able to read them just fine. There are English words in signs and ads written in Japanese that I wished they'd just use the Japanese words instead. I would understand it less, but it would help me learn the language better.

When I see リフレッシュ on water bottle label, I wish it would just be さわやか instead. It really takes away my joy of reading Japanese characters when what's written is English.

Thanks Boss #

The last straw, if you can call it that, is when my friends and I were trying out drinks from a vending machine, which we loved doing during our stay. I got a drink by Craft Boss that says いちごオレ. I instantly knew that いちご meant Strawberry. It's the second Japanese word I have ever learned after かわいい (don't guess what kind of anime shows I was watching). For the life of me, I could not get what オレ is. Is it the Japanese for the masculine "I"? That can't be. It's in Katakana so I know it's a loaned word. But what English word even sounds remotely close to "oh-ray"?

My friends, as they do, asked me what it says on mine. I told them that I can read it but I just don't know what it means. So I read it to them.

ee-chi-go oh-ray

Like me, they all knew what Ichigo meant, but they were also stumped what the latter half meant. I kept mumbling it repeatedly, not wanting to give up on understanding it. Admittedly, I was either saying it with a North American accent or a thick Filipino accent. Both were not helping.

After some time of me mumbling like a crazy person, something clicked in my friend's head.

"Au lait"! You know? The french for "with milk".

I don't know. That was the first time I've internalized that term. I have seen it before since I am from Canada where all labels are in both English and French. But I pay exactly zero attention to the French labels. I don't know a lick of French but my friends do because they are not dummies like me. I was just not saying it correctly.

That was the moment when I thought I really wished the Japanese labels would just have Japanese words. Because then, if there's a word I don't know, I would just need to use a Japanese dictionary and learn something new.

Since then, every time I come across words written in Katakana, I get stressed out. Before I can even guess what the word sounds like, I need to guess which language it is borrowing from. I imagine being in a life or death situation and the Japanese label I have to read to save myself is written in Katakana of an Arabic sentence.

Is It Necessary? #

A thought starts brewing in my head. Is Katakana necessary? The short answer is yes, and anyone remotely knowledgeable of the Japanese language would tell you that.

But is it? (cue Vsauce music)

First question. Can you write a full novel entirely with Kanji and Hiragana? I reckon you can. Sure it might read stiff or archaic, but I strongly believe it is possible.

Second question. Can you use the foreign words as-is in Japanese sentences? I reckon you can. It would be unnatural, but I strongly believe it is possible.

皆さんClapして下さい

But why do that? Japanese people would not want to write or read foreign words as-is.

皆さん拍手して下さい

新日本語 Never #

I'm not fully convinced that Katakana is necessary. I mean, there can just be a Furigana equivalent for foreign words and still be in Hiragana.

A word written in Katakana can be any word from any language. These words are not even necessarily missing in the Japanese language. My bottleneck when learning the Japanese language becomes less on how much Japanese vocabulary I know, but more on how many other languages I know.

But these are just my thoughts. I'm definitely not saying that Japanese people should stop borrowing words from other languages. After all, majority of Japanese words are already borrowed from the Chinese language. All I'm saying is that I'm too stupid to know French.