Katakana English…

Sorry about the useless post but I need to vent. Am I the only one that absolutely hates Katakana English? I know how to read katakana, as in I remember what they all mean, but when I see them in a text they all form a shapeless blob… Trying to guess where one word ends and the next one starts, and what they supposedly correspond to makes me want to close the text and never open it again. Things like アントレプレナーシップオーガニゼーション hurt my eyes… Tell me I’m not the only one ; ;

8 comments
  1. Normal, but the case for me is once I recognize it. It’s not an issue the second time I see it. Like for this one, I didn’t recognize it. I had to sound it out until I hit “ship” then immediately knew it was entrepreneurship and just seeing オ I knew it was organization afterwards.

  2. Usually for multi-word katakana, it is common to add a mid-dot to replace the space. But yeah, it’s tough to switch modes for many English speakers too.

  3. Takes practice. If you don’t see them enough, then you won’t like it when you see them again. Here’s an entire Japanese rap music performed in Katakana lyrics (even when there are actual Japanese words in there):

    The exact time stamp of the song where the lyrics below are performed: [https://youtu.be/SdTqtc2F0w4?t=99](https://youtu.be/SdTqtc2F0w4?t=99)

    The actual lyrics below:

    マチガイナサスギル

    ヤバスギルスキル モツ オレ

    キューガマイクロフォンニギル

    リアルダトイイキル

    ナカセルフリーキーフロー

    ハズサネーフリーキック

    ステージワカス

    メイジンヤゲイニン

    ツドッチャオドラシチャオウカ

    ゼンイン

    イッキニコッチニスイッチ

    ライムノウチアイジャ

    シネエゼクリンチ

    ハンパナイ アッタマリ

    マタパーティカッサライ

    マッタナシ

    タイトナラップトワイドナ

    バクオンデユラスゾ

    タイムフォーサム

    アクション!

  4. Some native speakers also hated the walls of kana in old computer systems.

  5. I think it’s worth making a distinction here between the sometimes gratuitous katakana English used in business/IT settings in an attempt to sound all trendy and buzzword-y (the example you give is a good example of that) and just regular katakana loanwords that are already deeply ingrained into the the Japanese language (and aren’t always from English), e.g. バイト, マンション, パソコン, スマホ, etc.

    By all means, avoid using the former (especially when there’s an easier/more intuitive Japanese equivalent) and most native speakers will probably thank you for it.

    If you can’t get used to the latter, you’re going to have a hard time with Japanese in general.

  6. i hate katakana and loan words written with it

    this is a reason i turn into a total dyslexic when it comes to technical manuals / user guides of any sort cause they are basically a sea of katakana words connected with occasional して, から etc.

  7. It’s awful in reading but pretty convenient and easy to understand when speaking. There are some fun ones where the Japanese completely departs from the English (looking at you テンション), but for the most part I find loan words make it easier to understand in conversation. Easier to puzzle out the meaning of a new loan word than of a well, fully unknown Japanese word

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