The first example of katakana I will explore can be found here: http://qoo.jp/. This is クー, a Japanese soft drink. I believe the choice of katakana for this drink can be attributed to a few things—one being that the name is actually more of a sound than a word (onomatopoeia). According to the wikipedia page at least, the name refers “the mascot's reaction to tasting the drink.” Furthermore, クー is also somewhat of a loan word—again, at least according to wikipedia, “Qoo is transliterated in Chinese as 酷兒 (kù'ér). It evokes images of “cool kid” since 酷 (kù) is a transliteration of the English word cool and 兒 (ér) means ‘child’ or ‘son’.” Essentially the word has gone through the language/cultural sieve of Europe and/or America, China and Japan; cool leading to 酷 (kù) leading to クー —how cool is that? クーis also a good example of intelligent marketing. It is easy to remember in that it is short and evokes a feeling (how one feels drinking クー) rather than a specific fact or something. Because it is short it seems as though it would be very easily remembered by both children and adults, perhaps explaining the universally cute mascot!
The other example of katakana I have is the use of it for computer terms such as フォルダ (folder) and ホーム (home). I discovered this when I changed my computer's system preferences to Japanese. It would seem that this choice of katana serves two purposes, the first being that katakana is most commonly used to represent loan words from other languages, in this example English. With regard to having found this on my computer, it seems logical that sharp, concise writing such as katakana would be used to represent technical terms, loan words or not. This script is very easy to read and very uncluttered, aesthetically speaking.
3 comments:
I really like the way you analyzed the first example!
Yes, I totally agree that it is such a clever marketing strategy that makes everyone remember the product's name. And I did not know that the label actually refers to the English term 'cool'. I thought it was a mere onomatopoeia since the sound could be associated with the reaction people have when they emotionally agitated.
I think for the computer terms. the カタカナ letters are used because the technology itself was brought to the Japanese culture from the western culture.
Sometimes, even some Japanese terms which have equivalents in hiragana are transcribed in カタカナ, such as ごみ-ゴミ 'trash', and ねこ-ネコ 'cat'. In these cases, what do you think is the function of the カタカナ letters? How are they different from hiragana or roman alphabets in terms of symbolic impression they give to us?
TA
Really interesting analysis!
As far as onomatopoeia goes, 日本語 does wonders with it. There are two types (I wrote this on another blog already, すみません)--擬音語（ぎおんご）--onomatopoeia as it is in English--such as ポン（Pop!)and 擬態語（ぎたいご）which is used to describe something that doesn't necessarily have a sound to go with it--it can be used to describe the way a butterfly flaps its wings, for instance.
As far as marketing goes, I think the versatility of interpretation that カタカナ allows for--in addition to its suggestion of emphasis, onomatopoeia, foreign loan words, a clean and succinct appearance, and higher likelihood anyone can read it (at least, any 日本人）--are all aspects of why so often it is used in product names.
クー, in this case, could definitely have all of the meanings that you suggested. I want to also suggest an onomatopoeia reading, クーbeing a sound of relief and refreshment after taking a sip. I could be wrong, but カタカナ leaves the discussion open!
おつかれさま～
四年生のテスより
すみません！ わたしのanswer は じかんがい(late)。 わたしのともだちとわたしは キスキス、バング、バング (Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang) と インヂアニア ジョンス (Indiana Jones) と ワチュメン (Watchmen) と ヴェフォル ヴェンデッタ (V for Vendetta) と ヘルボユ (Hellboy) と キクアス (Kickass) を みました。 たくさん えいがを みました。 そして、スーパスマシュ(Super Smash) を しまｓじょた。 はい、ノートルダム大学 は とても しずかです！
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