Why is some words in Japanese spelt with both hiragana and katakana?

For example I was looking for a easy manga to read and Polar Bear Cafe was a rec. But the spelling of Polar Bear is spelt with hiragana しろくま. Then cafe is spelt with both Hiragana and Katakana カフェ. Why is that?

5 comments
  1. neither of those are mixed

    verbs and adjectives that have a base in katakana have conjugatable endings in hiragana tho

    ググる = to google

    キモい = creepy, gross

  2. Kanji is used for meaningful words like nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs.

    Katakana is used for sounding out words, like foreign words, animals, and some sound effects.

    Hiragana is used for grammar and to simplify Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana can be interchanged for stylistic reasons, especially in titles of media.

    You need all three to make sentences in Japanese.

    ​

    In your case, しろくま is the hiragana transliteration for 白熊, the Japanese word for white bear. That manga uses しろくま instead of 白熊 or シロクマ for stylistic reasons.

    カフェ is an English word for Café (or I guess French word). If you sound out カフェ, it’s literally ca-fe.

    A better word for your question is 消しゴム (eraser). It’s a single word that uses a Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana.

  3. An interesting example of both being used would be ふりがな being written on forms when you’re supposed to write in hiragana. And フリガナ being written on forms when you’re supposed to write katakana (specifically, when you’re writing the pronunciation for your name or address).

  4. You can find katakana is used for vocabulary from foreign languages. Then, カフェ is formally correct and more offten used than かふぇ.

    Historically, katakana had been used for formal sentences like Meiji Constitution till WW2. Katakana gives us the impression of formality. Hiragana gives us the impression of soft and warm.
    I don’t know why かふぇ is used in the manga. I guess this is one of reasons to spell with hiragana for vocabulary from foreign languages.

    Moreover, シロクマ is more offten used than かふぇ, because names of spiecies are spelt with katakana in a scientific rule.

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