With, however, it's not just being foreign. It also denotes being modern. Because, before globalization, was the past. And the past, without globalization, had fewer katakana words . Therefore, morewords means that more globalization has happened and therefore implies it's more modern.
An extra-effect of this is that katakana is also strongly associated with computers and technology. Futurism. Internet. Cyber stuff. Etc. This happens pretty much every computer word comes from English, and they've been all katakanized for Japanese.
For example, most computer-ish words are written with katakana. A "blog" is a burogu ブログ, a forum "thread" is abbreviated as sure スレ, a "personal computer" is a pasokon パソコン, and the "internet" is the netto ネット.
Brand New Modern Names
Be it for one reason or another, a lot of products, magazines, etc. will include a katakana word, an English word, even it makes absolutely no sense or it's gibberish, just to look, you know, cooler.
Notorious example:少年ジャンプ, the famousmanga publication that has "jump" in its name for some reason. Why jump? Does that make sense to you? "Boy jump"? "Boyish jump"? "Underage jump"? "Few years jump"?
There's no way to interpret this that makes sense. Someone was trying to make a cool name and chose a cool word for it, and it was aword. It's like calling something "Google." What the fuck does "Google" even mean? It's just a word someone thought sounded cool.
Hiragana Looks Chummy
Next we have hiragana. It looks, for a lack of a better word, chummy. But since this is a section of the article and not just a bullet point or headline, I think it deserves a description longer than a single word.
Basically, hiragana looks familiar. Friendly. Innocent. Childish. Childlike. Buddy-buddy. (let me look some more synonyms...) uh... "unpretentious." Anyway, it doesn't look intimidating, it looks bright, happy, and young.
A Bunch of Kanji Illiterates
kanji. I mean, young children can't read kanji. They'll mistake the word akeguchi あけ口 with akero あけロ and stuff. So, obviously, a complete and total lack of kanji is preferred by such children.The biggest reason for this is that children can't read. I mean, young children can't read. They'll mistake the wordあけ口 withあけロ and stuff. So, obviously, a complete and total lack ofis preferred by such children.
Because of this, one can associate the usage of hiragana with children. It's like, kanji is the teen and adult version, and hiragana is the child version. Imagine something like that.
Consequently, in manga, for example, the dialogue of a child character may have more hiragana than other, non-child characters. With this stylistic choice the author would be implying that the character speaks like a child, because they're a child.
The lack ofimplies that the child hasn't firmly associated the word to its meaning, ( kanji have meanings , so a lack ofdenotes a lack of meaning), and is instead simply pronouncing the word phonetically, syllable by syllable,by. That is, the character doesn't have full grasp on the vocabulary and is just repeating the words they've heard before.
Furthermore, a child character that speaks in hiragana too much gives the impression they can only use basic words (because such words are frequently written with hiragana) and can't use complex words (kanji are more complex than kana, so a lack of kanji implies a lack of complexity).
On the other side, this kind of usage of hiragana may be creepy in some instances. For example, if the dialogue of a very ugly, very evil monster is written like this, you'd understand the monster talks like a child, which can be a really terrible thought.
Warm, Fuzzy Hiragana Feelings
Following the association of hiragana with children, comes the association of hiragana with something that's familiar and light-hearted.
This is specially true in titles of manga and anime. As well as pretty much the title of anything else.
When you have a title that can be written with kanji, but is deliberately written without kanji, and with hiragana, that might hint the fact that the nature of the work is lighter, and friendlier, and not serious stuff.
For example: handa-kun はんだくん. This anime is about the character, well, handa 半田, whose name can be written with kanji, as most Japanese names can, unless you're named after a pokémon or something, then I'm sorry for you.
But why is handa-kun's title written in hiragana?
Why handa-kun はんだくん instead of handa-kun 半田君?
That's because the anime is a comedy, not a mystery drama thriller, so instead of those boring kanji, it wants those colorful, happy hiragana transmitting that aspect of the content in its title.
Hiragana: Super Simple Stuff
On top of that, there's the fact that hiragana is just simpler than kanji. Specially since kanji have meanings associated with them.
When you see a, you might understand it without reading it. You just look at it, and your brain is used to that symbol, so you know what it means without needing to spell out the word the kanji is for . That requires a bit of thought because it's an abstraction.
On the other hand, if a word is written with just hiragana, you're forced to spell it out, and that act feels easier on the mind, because it feels like you've just heard someone say that word, you didn't just try to interpret its symbol.
So hiragana is easier. And that aspect is sometimes considered.
Kanji Looks Serious
Finally, we have kanji. What's special about kanji? Well, kanji means business.
There's not much to say about kanji, though. Normally, words are written with kanji. So there are basically two cases we can talk about.
Not Edgy Nor a Clown
First, when words are written normally.
This gives an air of authority, and of basic decency. Because you aren't writing stuff with just hiragana, for example, you aren't trying to look too chummy, childlike, too intimate. You're keeping your distance. Looking professional. And you aren't using katakana either, so your text doesn't look like it's trying to advertise and market to the modern web-teenager.
So by simply not trying to look different, you already look serious enough.
I Know Over 2000 Kanji
Second, when words which are normally written without kanji get written with kanji. That is, there's more kanji than there should be, more kanji than normal. And this can happen for a number of reasons.
*Cleans Monocle*
For example, it can make something look well-cultured, a literary piece, of noble quality. Just like books often contain words you wouldn't see in your daily life, but that the well-read would know about. Stuff written with kanji that you wouldn't see in your daily life implies it's well-written and appeals to the monocle-bearing bookworm.
So, in manga, using too many kanji can give a more serious, classical tone to the work. Or simply make it look like it's a cut above from manga for children.
Whomst'd've'ly'yaint'nt'ed'ies's'y'es
kanji where they aren't usually written can be seen as pretentious. Because it's sorta pompous, isn't it? Why are you writing this stuff with kanji? Just write it with kana like everybody else! Who are you trying to impress? Are you a chuuni?! Stop with that.Following that, sometimes writing these rarewhere they aren't usually written can be seen as pretentious. Because it's sorta pompous, isn't it? Why are you writing this stuff with? Just write it withlike everybody else! Who are you trying to impress? Are you a?! Stop with that.
And there's also the times when a lot of kanji is used ironically.
Wait a Second... This Isn't Japanese?! Wait a Second Second, It Is?!?!
Names of laws often feature extremely long sequences of kanji compounds. For example:
- dai kibo jishin taisaku tokubetsu sochi hou
大規模地震対策特別措置法
Act on Special Measures Concerning Countermeasures for Large-Scale Earthquakes.
So one can end up associating a lot of kanji at once without kana with something of official nature, or something that's actually written in Chinese instead of Japanese. And satire can make use of this.
Giving something a long name with a dozen of kanji often makes it look like it's some hyper-serious, ultra-official thing. This can be seen, for example, in names of fictional organizations, plans, weapons, etc. in anime, and, also, to a certain extent, in names of secret techniques.
So these are ways where the choice of script is stylistic and based on aesthetic instead of anything more meaningful.
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