ベネフィーク, Benefique, is from my Japanese Cosmetic product's brand name. As I see it, katagana is often, but not always, used for transcription of Japanese company names.For an example, TOYOTA is presented as トヨタ. Katagana is used for emphasis, especially on signs, advertisements and billboards.
Why such brand's name in katagana has an effect of emphasis? My possible guess will be the publicity and marketing strategy of Japanese companies. As these companies try to be more international as well as targeting international market, it is necessary for them to create a feeling for all kinds of customers of anywhere to recognize their brand. If written in katagana, first of all, the store's name or the brand will stand out for your eye catching in the street when shopping. Secondly, as usage of katagana is often related to loanwords, which reminds others of foreign or international oriented, it is better for the company to impress its customers of its large scale and its high quality.
Another example is a Loanword written in katagana, タンメン,soup noodle, from M2M Convenience Store. This example seems to be a little bit ambiguous. First of all, this word is actually originated from Kanji word or Chinese word, 汤面，as it sounds almost the same accent and means the exact the same thing. Probably this word/thing came from China long time ago and borrowed by Japanese. However why is it written in katagana instead of Kanji since it is from China? Here one possible reason is that this katagana word is targeting foreigners, or more concisely westerners. Since soup noodle is a famous/typical Japanese food to westerners, the katagana writing of it is simpler than its kanji version. Fewer strokes and simpler structure might help foreigners to recognize. Besides, the soup noodle in katagana rather than kanji made this food more Japanese creation/food distinguishing from its Chinese origin.
In general, katagana writing form has an effect of emphasis in terms of its presenting medium, targeting audience and culture meaning.
I agree with your opinion that katakana is often used for catching customers’ eyes. We sometimes use katakana to emphasis or spotlight what we want to say. For example, “ココをみて！” is different impression from “ここをみて！” which is written in hiragana. The figure of katakana has much more impact than hiragana or kanji. Also, as you mentioned, katakana words, which are ラーメン, ステーキ and so on, mean that they are not purely foreign origin foods. Foreign origin foods written in katakana are often changed into Japanese taste.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am not sure that katakana words are targeting foreign people and help them to recognize, because many Japanese learners seem to have difficulty in learning katakana. Although katakana is simple figure, it is difficult to understand their meaning. It is because katakana words’ sound is a little different from original pronunciation, for example “コーヒー” and “coffee”, or “シューマイ” and “shaomai(烧卖)”.
Miwa Takemura
Very interesting! I had been thinking about katakana from a linguistic perspective, but your point about the commercial benefits of using katakana is really interesting! It definitely seems possible that Japanese companies might sometimes use Katakana instead of Kanji when the products have similar counterparts in China that they want to distinguish themselves from. I wonder if the companies might use different branding techniques in different countries. For example, maybe in Japan they wright the name in katakana, but if the product is going to be sold somewhere else where people would more easily recognize kanji, I wonder if they might change the way in which they write the name.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis is really interesting. I think maybe that you are reading too much into the foreigners aspect, since most non-Japanese cannot read kanji or katakana so it is equally unhelpful. But I agree they do stand out.
ReplyDeleteBut keep up the good work and I hope you enjoy your Japanese further studies. がんばってね。
ロワン (コロンビアのにねんせい）
とても面白いです. I agree with you that it is definitely a commercial thing. As the world becomes more and more globalized its easy to understand why companies want their name to be as simple as possible. I mean just look at some of the industry giants of today, even outside Japan. You have Dell, Walmart, IBM, Intel, etc., all names with very few syllables and very easy to adopt to other languages.
ReplyDeleteI talk about similar things in my analysis and it is very interesting to hear your perspective. I also find it very interesting that many brand names are written in katakana. For some reason, the bold characters seem to pop out more. Perhaps this is why they are used more effectively to draw attention to signs and what not.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the adaptation of food names into katakana (rather than using the kanji for example) suggests the acculturation of the food to fit the tastes of Japanese people. I think this is very interesting. I would like to learn more about food culture in Japan.
Do you think the adaptation of all these foreign words into katakana makes Japanese culture more adaptable and flexible and thus less resistant to outside cultural influences?