I’m half japanese and my name have Kanji, In my work place, those with kanji names are spelled in hiragana while those with foreign names are in katakana. Why is it like that?
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/16rwkzb/hiragana_name/
I’m half japanese and my name have Kanji, In my work place, those with kanji names are spelled in hiragana while those with foreign names are in katakana. Why is it like that?
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/16rwkzb/hiragana_name/
4 comments
[deleted]
Because foreign words are written in katakana while Japanese words are written primarily in kanji / hiragana. For example the words banana and mango in Japanese are バナナ and マンゴー
Because they are borrowed words from english
While Japanese words like door and book are Japanese words and are written in hiragana,
So as conclusion your name is written in hiragana because it’s a Japanese name and has a kanji version.
where u bornd
Foreign names will always be written in katakana. A typical use case for katakana instead of hiragana is foreign loan words, and your name, if foreign, would use katakana.
One thing I would like to ask, is your name a Japanese name, or a foreign name that you or someone else associated kanji to? I too am half japanese but with an English name. My aunt from my japanese side associated kanji to match how my name is spelt, but ultimately it’s a foreign name. Anyone who heard my name and knew I was a foreigner would instantly write it in katakana, and I don’t really associate the given kanji to my name.
If you did have a japanese name with kanji associated at birth, it could be a simple miscommunication on whoever created the name tags. Assumed or knew your foreigner status so had your name written in katakana.
As to why your japanese coworkers have Hiragana (not sure if this was part of your question), but kanji is hard and can be read many ways so to prevent confusion it’s written out in hiragana.